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FOETY YEAES or PIOHEEE LIPE. 

MEMOIR 

OP 

JOHN MASON PECK D.D. 



EDITED FROM HIS JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



B y 



RUFUS BABCOCK. 



. ' « ■ » » > -^ 



PHILADELPHIA : 
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

5 30 ARCH STREET. 






3J 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by 

THE AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court in and for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

8TERE0TTPED AND PRINTED BY 

8. A. GEORGE. 



TO THE CHURCHES 

WHICH WERE GATHERED AND EDIFIED BY HIS MINISTRY ; 

TO THE SUNDAY-SCHOOLS WHICH HE PLANTED ; 

THE SEMINARIES WHICH HE FOUNDED OR FOSTERED, 

AND TO 

all those benefited by the evangelizing, humane, and enlightening 

instrumentalities which he assiduously promoted, 

this memoir op one calling himself 

"an old pioneer," 

is respectfully inscribed by 

their fellow-laborer and friend, 

THE EDITOK. 



We are likely in our efforts, in and for the present, to forget 
what is due to pioneers-to those who went forward in the cause 
of missions, amidst the scorn of the worldly and the doubt of the 
pious, relying with a sublime faith on the promise made to 
prophets and apostles. 

President M. B. Anderson. 



Some men are born to greatness, or have it thrust on them; 
others worthily achieve it. 



So have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was 
named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. 

Paul. 



PREFACE 



No compiler of a biography could desire to be favored with more 
abundant and reUable materials. They consist of a very extensive 
correspondence from the year 1808 to that of Dr. Peck's death, 
covering full fifty years of his eventful life. Then in addition to 
these well-arranged letters, which a thousand hands have contrib- 
uted, with the substance of his more important replies, there are 
his journals for almost this entire period, filling fifty-three volumes, 
some few of them small and portable for his convenience in travel- 
ing, but most of them large, either folios or quartos of some hun- 
dreds of pages each, full of all facts and incidents which.his inquis- 
itire and almost ubiquitous spirit of research brought under his 
observation. The superabmidance of these materials has indeed 
proved the principal embarrassment in this compilation. They 
are ample, and by Dr. Peck himself were designed for a more fuU 
and extended memoir of his Hfe and times than it seemed advisable 
to the publishers now to send forth. 

The embarrassment and perplexity of deciding what to reject 
entirely, and what to condense, and to what extent, has been the 
chief difficulty, and is the very point where most fault is Hkely to 
be found with this volume. Many readers of it will no doubt fail 
to find some of the things they had looked for with fondest ex- 
pectation, and which, in their partial judgment, would have been 
more interesting than other things which are here preserved. Let 
all such charitably remember how many there are of different tastes 
judgments, and personal predilections, and at least pardon, if they 
do not fully approve, the earnest endeavor here made wisely to 
compromise conflicting claims. 

I have been mainly desirous to glye with impartial fidelity the 

5 



6 PREFACE. 

forty years of pioneer life — its preparation, its experiences, and 
its resul+s — which was the grand specialty of Dr. Peck. It em- 
braces ttie years of preparation, begun in privation, vexed with 
incessant ti^ruggles by a very narrow, imperfect education, which 
he was constantly striving to enlarge and improve ; by indigent 
circumstances and various connections and concomitants not of an 
encouraging character. But through all this environment of hin- 
drances, a brave heart and steady persistence enabled him to press 
his way successfM.^'y to the point where he was commissioned by 
the Board of the Triennial Baptist Convention a missionary to the 
great "VYest, regarded by such men as Baldwin and Furman, Sharp 
and Mercer, John Wiilian;:'?. H. G.Jones and Staughton, as one 
well fitted for this service. 

Then follow through the two-score years of widely-varying expe- 
riences in this kind of life ; his generally successful efforts in the 
different but nearly related fields of evangelical enterprise — preach- 
ing the gospel, establishing churches, Sunday-schools, Bible and 
tract societies, educational institutions to train preachers and 
teachers of common-schools, as well as calling into requisition and 
sustaining the religious periodical press for its manifold uses ; and 
while all this network of evangelizing processes was vigorously 
pressed into requisition, he labored to surround, and supplement, 
and sustain it by all desirable civilizing and humane instrument- 
alities ; encouraging a better class of settlers to follow his " Guide 
for Emigrants" and make permanent homes and thriving com- 
munities in the fertile Western valley, or, as h« finally insisted it 
should be called, the Great Central Yalley of North America, to 
make them temperate, Sabbath-keeping, and free. His indefatig- 
able labors in this incidental sphere have been productive of vast 
and indeed the very best success. The venerable Dr. Lymaii 
Beecker used to say, with emphasis, a quarter of a century ago, 
that J. M. Peck of Illinois had led more valuable settlers into the 
Northwest than any other ten men. Looking at what the mighty 
West now is, and ever must be, in its relations to the other por- 
tions of our country, this service can be scarcely over-estimated. 



PREFACE. T 

His personal privations and endurances in all these years do not 
stand forth in any marked degree of prominence. At the time of 
their severest experience he measurably overlooked them, so com- 
pletely were his thoughts and heart absorbed in contemplation of 
the great benefits which were to result from them; and when they 
were passed he would make no effort to recall them, his motto ever 
being to forget the things behind and press forward for new and 
higher, worthier attainments. Yet the reader of these pages will 
catch many a glimpse of hardship and of actual peril and suffering 
— physical, intellectual, and spiritual — just enough, it is hoped, to 
win the full tide of generous sympathy, without such overshadow- 
ing excess as would tinge the review with discouragement and 
gloom. The hopeful ever largely predominated in the subject of 
this memoir, and if it shall awaken in those perusing it, either at 
the East or West, a spirit of cheerful self-sacrifice for the public 
good, akin to that which it records, it will not be read in vain. 
Self-denial in other and bloodier fields is now winning its meed of 
fair renown to an extent formerly unprecedented. Let it be known 
also that peace has its demands for large sacrifices and generous 
offerings as well as war ; that their product oh this field is to say 
the least equally beneficial with the other. 

The results of this pioneer-life are but beginning to be seen. Yet 
how cheering to one who had adventured his all in this cause were 
the beginnings which his closing years witnessed. Little less than 
two thousand Baptist churches were in flourishing existence in his 
field ere he left it, where there were not a score on his entrance. 
More than twice that number of Sunday-schools, of which he and 
his yoke-fellow, "Welch, planted the first ; with colleges, universities, 
and professional seminaries of promising character and sufficiently 
numerous which were planted and flourishing in his day and greatly 
by his aid. And had he Uved a little longer, he might have rejoiced 
that his own Illinois, which he had watched over from infancy, and 
aided in every stage of its transition and advancement, had given 
a wise and faithful President to the Republic, and a commander-in- 
chief of unsurpassed valor and skill to lead her armies, with one 



h 



8 



PREFACE. 



hundred and thirty thousand valiant soldiers, to crush out the most 
atrocious rebellion the world has ever seen. Yea, more, and better 
still, he would have hailed with devoutest gratitude the emancipa- 
tion of all the enslaved of African race in Missouri, foretokening 
the same result speedily in all the States. 

It only remains to explain the delay in the publication of this 
condensed memoir. Four years since it was written and submitted 
for examination to the Board of that Pubhcation Society which 
Dr. Peck had so faithfully served as its chief executive officer for 
some of the most active years of his laborious and useful life. 
Their committee of examination, after the thorough perusal of the 
manuscript, were pleased to express high satisfaction with its prep- 
aration, declaring it in their judgment worthy of a wide circulation 
and adapted to important usefulness. But at just that period the 
great Northwest, where its circulation was expected to be greatest, 
was in such financial embarrassment from repeated failure in her 
crops that all experienced publishers dissuaded from immediate 
publication. Then came this fearful war, engrossing all thoughts 
and efforts. 

^ Now, however, that the mighty giant of the West has thrown off 
its incubus, and we have become so accustomed to the war as not 
to disregard entirely other claims, and specially while that foreign 
mission, of which the subject of this memoir was one of the earUest 
appointed heralds to the region beyond the Mississippi, is now stir- 
ring our hearts with notes of preparation for the first jubilee, it seems 
an auspicious hour to send forth this volume. While it cheers the 
humble beginner in his efforts for self-improvement, and gives to 
the scattered immigrants into the wilderness the assurance that 
they are not forgotten, and to all of us increasing sympathy with 
pioneer-missionaries who go in jeopardy of their hves to obey the 
great commission, may it promote the Redeemer's glory and the 
extension and triumph of His peaceful reign I 

PouGHKEEPsiE, N.Y., 31s^ ifarcTi, 1864. 



CONTENTS. 



< • ♦ • » 



CHAPTER I. 

1789—1810. 

Birth — Genealogy — Elementary Education — Conversion — 
Marriage 13 

CHAPITER II. 

1811, 1812. 

Removal to New York Stdte — Joining the Baptists — Begins 
Preaching • 21 

CHAPTER III. 

1812—1814. 

Preaching in Catskill — Ordination — School-teaching — Self-im- 
provement — Illness — Necessity for Removal 30 

CHAPTER IV. 

1814, 1815. 

Pastorship in Amenia — Study of the Greek Testament under 
DiflBculties — Missionary Zeal and Labors — First Intercourse 
with Rev. Luther Rice 40 

CHAPTER Y. 

1816, 1817. 

Student-Hfe in Philadelphia under Dr. Staughton — His Setting 
Apart as a Missionary 48 

CHAPTER YI. 

1817. 

Preparation — Journey to St. Louis — Traveling Experiences. . 70 

CHAPTER YIL 

1818. 

Condition of St. Louis forty-six years ago , 81 

CHAPTER YIII. 

1818. 

Early Evangelizing Efforts in the West — Recollection of Towns 
in Illinois a.nd Missouri — Backwoods Life— Squatter Family 

• — Indian Council 93 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

1818. 

Missionary Tour in Southern Missouri .-. 117 

CHAPTER X. 

1818, 1819. 
Tour in the Boone's Lick Country, North of Missouri River — 
Visit to the venerated Daniel Boone, Founder of Kentucky 125 

CHAPTER XI. 
1819. 
Recollections of Missouri in 1819 — Theological Seminary — 
Alton in 1819 — Theology and Common-sense — Mission Soci- 
eties — Support of the Ministry 149 

CHAPTER XII. 

1820. 

Review of "Western Mission-school at St. Charles — Trials and 
Sickness — Close of the Mission — Letter from Mr. Peck 162 

CHAPTER XIIL 

1821, 1822. 

Mr. Peck without support — Removes to Farm at Rock Spring 
—St. Louis Church — Tour to Missouri — ^Visits VandaUa. .. 170 

CHAPTER XIY. 

1822, 1823. 

Conversion of Governor Carlin — Report of Ijabors — Itinerancy 
• — Loss of Horse and Valuable Papers — Recollections by Mr. 
Leman — Founding of Rock Spring Seminary, 178 

CHAPTER XV. 

1823, 1824. 

Extracts from Journal — Anti-jnission Baptists — Bible Societies 
Formed — Report to Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Soci 
ety — Baptism of Green, a Murderer ; His Execution — Sun 
day-schools 183 

CHAPTER XVI. 

1824, 1825. 

Religious Destitution — American Sunday-soiiool Union — De- 
feat of Slavery in Illinois — Governor Coles — Spiritual Con- 
flicts — Study of Bible — Prejudices against Baptists — Camp- 
meetings — Review of his Labors 193 

CHAPTER XVII. 

1825. 
Circuit-preaching — Robert Owen's Colony — Anti-slavery Bap- 
tists — Missouri Slaveholders — Reflections 204 



CONTENTS. ' 11 

CHAPTER XTlll. 

1826. 
Visits Eastern States — Washington City — Rice and Staughton 
— New York Anniversaries — Visits Native Place — Theologi- 
cal School Projected 212 

CHAPTER XIX. 
1827. 
Need of Theological Training — Rock Spring Seminary — Joshua 
Bradley — Dependence on Mr. Peck and Family — Revivals — 
Seminary Opposed 225 

CHAPTER XX. 
1828—1831. 
First Religions Paper in the West— Rev. T. P. Green— Nicholas 
Brown— "The Pioneer" Issued— Mr. Peck's Plans— Ameri- 
can Bible Society — Guide for Emigrants — Rev. Dr. Goring 

Self-examination 234 

CHAPTER XXI. 

1832—1834. 

The Black Hawk War— Its Origin, Progress, and End— Re- 
moval of Seminary to Alton — Illinois Anniversaries Ex- 
tracts from Journal— Death of John Clark— Gazetteer of 
Illinois— Failing Health— Endowment of Alton Seminary. . 246 

CHAPTER XXII. 

1835, 1836. 

Second Visit East — Triennial Convention at Richmond— Dr. 
Cox and Mr. Hoby— Richmond College— Philadelphia and 
Boston Anniversaries— Brown University— Dr. Shurtleff— 
Shurtleff College Building 260 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

1836, 1837. 

Severe Illness— Press Removed to Alton— Western Pioneer 

Illinois Baptist Education Society — Alton Riots — Murder of 
Lovejoy — Pastorship 269 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

1838—1840. 
Observance of Sabbath— Transfer of Pioneer— Dr. Harris on 
Union — Reordination — Baptism of Son — Preaching Tour in 
Missouri, etc. — Reports of his Labors 278 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1840, 1841. 
Labors and Trials — Lectures on Prophecies— Convention of 
Western Baptists— Election Sermon— Death of General Har- 



12 CONTENTS. 

risen— We&lern Baptist Publication Society — Drama of Te- 
cumthe 928 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

1842. 

'I'ennessee — Sale of a Negro Boy — New Orleans — Charles Dick- 
ens — Visit to the East — Miller — The Adventists — Anniver- 
saries at Boston and New York — Synopsis of Address at 
Boston 300 

CHAPTER XXYII. 

1842. 

Attacked by Banner and Pioneer — New York Associations — 
Hamilton Seminary — Millerites — Home again — Correspond- 
ence — Ministers' Meeting — Parental Authority 309 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 
1843. 

Secretary of American Baptist Publication Society — New Plans 
Proposed — Journey to Philadelphia — Accident — Anniversa- 
ries at Albany and New York — Dr. Beecher — Society Work 
— New Englan^i Anniversaries 318 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

1844. 

Visits the West — Wreck of the Shepherdess — Narrow Escape 
of Mr. Peck — Advocates the Publication Society in West — 
Publishing Fund Started — Visits Kentucky — General Jack- 
son — Description of Mr. Peck's Family and Home — Resigns 
Secretaryship 327 



V 



CHAPTER XXX. 

1845—1853. 

ife of Daniel Boone — Pastoral Duties — Literary Labors — 
Western Watchman — Western Annals — Dr. Jeter's Letter 
about Dr. Peck — Shurtleflf College — Rock Spring Seminary 
Burned — Valuable Papers and Books Lost — Last Visit East 
— American Baptist Historical Society Organized — Gathers 
a New Library 341 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

1853—1857. 

Pastor of Covington Church — Severe Illness — Resignation — 
Retires to Private Life — Letter of Mr. Bush — Extracts from 
Mr. Peck's Journals — Literary Labors — Reminiscences — 
Death of Mrs. Peck — Last Tour — Last Illness — Death — 
Funeral 352 



MEMOIR 



OP 



JOHN M. PECK 



-•♦»- 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth — Genealogy — Education — Conversion — Marriage. 

How diflferentlj the same object affects us as we know or 
are ignorant of its relations. If in your casual wanderings 
you pass some copious fountain, and step across the little 
rivulet issuing from it, with only the vague conviction that it 
must find its way to the ocean, the impression is slight. But 
if after a thorough acquaintance with the Nile, or the Missis- 
sippi, for instance — after tracing for thousands of miles their 
magnificent course, witnessing the fertility they spread around 

them, or the wealth which commerce wafts on their bosoms 

you then follow them to their sources, and stand by the bub- 
bling fountain from which each takes its rise, what a train of 
musing such a spectacle suggests. With somewhat similar 
feelings those of us who have known for scores of years the 
beneficent and wide-reaching results of the life-labors of John 
Mason Peck go back to the origin of his career. 

The quiet home of Asa and Hannah Peck at their lowly 
dwelling in the parish of Litchfield South Farms, Connecticut, 
witnessed his birth on the 31st of October, 1189 ; and there 
for eighteen years he was reared in the simplicity, frugality, 
and industry becoming a child of the Puritans. The gene- 
alogical track of his family leads directly to Deacon Paul 
Peck, who in 1634 emigrated from Essex county, England, 
2 13 



14 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

and soon after, with the pious Hooker, came to Hartford and 
founded the infant colony of Connecticut.* 

Nothing of peculiar interest occurred to mark the character 
of Peck's childhood, or early youth. His father was in very 

* The following genealogical account of the ancestry of Dr. Peck 
has been carefully prepared from numerous valuable papers fur- 
nished by the Hon. Tracy Peck, of Bristol, Ct., a kinsman of the 
Doctor. 

Paul Peck and Martha his wife came to America in 1634. He was 
one of the proprietors of the town of Hartford, and died there, De- 
cember 23, 1695, aged eighty-seven years. He had five sons and 
four daughters. The fifth son, Samuel, was born in 1647, and died 
1696, at West Hartford, leaving one child also named Samuel, born 
1672, and died December 9, 1765, aged ninety-three years. In the 
year 1700 Samuel, the younger, married Abigail Collyer, and they 
had a large family. Their son Elisha, the grandfather of Dr. Peck, 
was born in 1720, and married his cousin Lydia Peck. He died 
May 29, 1762, leaving six children. The oldest, named Asa— the 
father of Dr. Peck — was born March 8, 1744, in Berlin, Ct. ; but in 
1783 he and his mother moved to the parish of South Farms in 
Litchfield, where, in 178^, he was married to Hannah Farnum, who 
was born there July 25, 1755. They had but one child, John Mason 
Peck, who was born at South Farms, October 31, 1789. He was mar- 
ried. May 8, 1809, to Sarah Paine, who was born in Greene county, 
N.Y., January 31, 1789. They had the following issue, viz. : 

1. Eli Prince, born in Litchfield, July 28, 1810, and died in St. Louis 

county, Mo., October 5, 1820. 

2. Hannah Farnum, born July 10, 1812, and married Ashford Smith, 

of Rockville, Iowa. 

3. Hervey JenTcs, born September 28, 1814, and died December 17, 

1855, leaving a widow and six children. 

4. William Carey, born February 11, 1818 ; died September 14, 1821. 

5. Mary Ann, born September 18, 1820, and married Samuel Gr. 

Smith, and resided in Galena, 111. 

6. William Staughton, born November 13, 1823, and resided at Spruce 

Mills, Iowa. 

7. John Quincy Adams, born August 27, 1825, and resides at Rock 

Spring, 111. 

8. An infant, born December 10, 1827, and died sine nomine. 

9. Henry Martin, born May 7, 1829, and resides at Rock Spring. 
10. James Ashford, born September 27, 1831. 



COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION. 15 

humble circumstances, and moreover was afflicted with lame- 
ness, which early threw a large share of the care and the toils 
of tilling the little farm upon this his only son. From the 
time he was fourteen years old his summers were faithfully 
devoted to farm work, while in the winter months he con- 
tinued to enjoy the benefits of the common school — that pride 
of New England, and especially, in that period of her history, 
of the State of Connecticut. True, the range of studies was 
not more than half as extensive as at present. The aim was 
to teach boys and girls, gathered in the same little apartment, 
to spell and read well, to write a fair, legible hand, and acquire 
such familiarity with the fundamental rules of arithmetic as 
would enable them to keep their simple accounts correctly, to 
cast the interest which they paid or received, and generally 
to familiarize themselves with the established forms requisite 
for the transaction of ordinary business. Some geographical 
and historical books were used for reading-lessons, and thus a 
smattering of knowledge in these branches was secured. A 
geography with, an atlas of maps, or a historical book adapted 
to the capacity of children, had not then been introduced to 
the common schools ; and grammar was chiefly or wholly 
learned by imitating good usage without much knowledge 
of its rules. Good elocution was sometimes attempted to be 
taught by rehearsing memoriter fine select specimens of prose 
and poetic compositions ; but lest this should too much attract 
attention and pave the way for stage exhibitions, which were 
deemed too theatrical, judicious cautions were frequently ad- 
ministered both to teachers and scholars by the official visitors 
— the parson being one. 

The common school which young Peck attended must have 
been rather inferior to the usual average of that period ; or he 
was, as he frankly admits, more stupid and sluggish than or- 
dinary lads, even with his scanty advantages ; for when he was 
eighteen years old, and himself began to teach, his orthogra- 
phy and chirography too were sadly deficient — and to correct 
grammatical usages he seems to have made no pretensions. 
Yet his mind and judgment were considerably exercised ; and 



16 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the common remark in the neighborhood was that John, 
though uncultivated, was no simpleton. He regularly heard 
the gospel preached on the Sabbath, and enjoyed the advan- 
tages of personal intercourse with those more intelligent than 
himself ; and especially after beginning to keep school during 
the winter months, and board around among the families of 
his employees, he seems to have made rapid advances in 
acquiring general inft)rmation. 

At just about this period also his religious nature seems to 
have been quickened to new activity. I find among his papers 
a sketch of his early religious exercises, hastily written by him, 
as early as 1811, from which a small portion may here be 
properly extracted : 

The early period of my life was spent like the generality of 
youth in willful opposition against God, and in pursuing those vani- 
ties and follies which children and youth generally foUow. About 
the age of ten or eleven years I had fearful apprehensions of the 
danger of eternal punishment, and used to attempt to pray to God 
to deliver me therefrom ; but I knew nothing of the way of salva- 
tion through the righteousness of a Redeemer. 

These impressions wore off, and I remained for the most part 
Btupid and senseless until I arrived at the age of eighteen. The 
Lord was then pleased to stop me in my rebellion, and turn me unto 
himself. The summer previous I had been peculiarly thoughtless ; 
but on the evening of the 15th of December, 1807 (a time never to 
be forgotten), I was induced, rather from motives of curiosity, to 
attend a meeting about three miles from home, where the work of 
God's converting grace was progressing in a most remarkable man- 
ner. Here I was brought to see myself a guilty sinner before God, 
deserving his wrath. These exercises continued and increased for 
about one week. I viewed myself as lost without the interposition 
of God's mercy. My distress increased, and my burden became 
heavier, until the end of the week, when I was delivered, and found 
a peace of mind and a joy in God which I had never felt before. 
Insensibly, my heart was drawn out to love and praise the Lord. 
I looked around on the works of creation wit^j a satisfaction and 
sweet delight before unknown ; for they seemed manifestly declar- 
ing the glory of God. I then feared nothing so much as relapsing 
into carelessness and stupidity. 



CONVERSION, AND ITS RESULTS. lY 

My hope was not at first as clear and bright as it afterwards 
became when a fuller discovery was made of the way of salvation 
through the merits of Christ. Little by little this faint hope in- 
creased. The character of God, his law, his providences, and the 
plan of grace as far as I understood it, appeared glorious and ex- 
cellent. The total depravity of the human heart was a doctrine I 
was early acquainted with. I felt a pleasure, therefore, in ascribing 
the whole work of salvation to the Lord, being sensible of my own 
weakness and my absolute dependence on Divine grace. 

It would be an interesting and profitable study for the 
mental philosopher to consider fully the development which 
this one impulse gave to the whole mind of the young man. 
He who before had vegetated rather than lived, now rises by 
rapid evolutions to a worthier elevation ; he breathes a purer 
air, he sees through a clearer medium. He shakes himself 
from the dust in which he was so willingly buried before, and 
pants for the privilege of doing and being something worthy 
of his new, his immortal nature. Aside from the mere de- 
liverance from the thraldom and degradation of his moral 
nature, he is now mentally a new creature—old things have 
passed away : behold, all things have become new. 

With this quickening impulse there soon comes the yearn- 
ing solicitude, and then the importunate cry of the converted 
Saul of Tarsus, '' Lord, what wilt thou have me to do V In 
after years he tells us— though probably he told no one then 
— that to him also the Lord seemed to say by his Spirit : 
" Thou art a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name to the 
Gentiles, and I will show thee how great things thou must 
suffer for my sake." It would have seemed next to impos- 
sible, then, that this rude, uncouth, poor, and almost friendless 
boy should become a minister— and an able minister— of the 
gospel ; that for scores of years ho should fill some of the ' 
most prominent and respousible positions among the ambassa- 
dors of Christ. No education-societies then sounded out their 
welcome words of encouragement to those who are willing, 
but unable, to give themselves to the work of needful prepara- 
tion for this high and holy mission. The prevalent opinion 



ih> 



MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



then inculcated among his religious associates was that a full 
and thorough course of classical and scientific training was 
the indispensable prerequisite for preaching the gospel. He 
saw himself the chief reliance of poor, infirm, and loving 
parents; and he said to the promptings of the Spirit : " No, 
no ; this can never be. I must abide in the useful calling of 
husbandry, and serve God in a private station." This he 
honestly, and for a period as considerable as two or three 
years, attempted. But ever and anon — as he followed the 
plough, or swung the scythe, as he delved with the hoe or the 
mattock, or felled the forest, or tended his farm stock in the 
barn, or drove his flocks afield — the sweet voice of the good 
Shepherd would be sounding in his ears and reaching the 
depths of his soul : "If thou lovest me, feed my sheep, feed 
my lambs: go and publish the glad tidings to every creature." 
This he especially remarked, that when God gave him most 
religious enjoyment, when his heart was warmed with love to 
his Saviour, and his own hopes of heaven were clearest, bright- 
est, and the peace of God was keeping and filling his soul, 
then he could not at all repress these exercises in regard to 
preaching. But when he was dull and stupid in his religious 
feelings, then this voice calling him to public duty died away. 

Partly perhaps with the hope of driving such an idea from 
him effectually and forever, he formed the next year after 
his hopeful conversion a matrimonial connection. He mar- 
ried, however, in the fear of the Lord ; and, as John Bunyan 
said in his own case, his mercy was to light on one eminently 
fitted to be to him, religiously as well as in temporal things, a 
true helpmate. 

In so important a matter no doubt he sought and found the 
Divine guidance ; and that his memoir may contain his views 
of the case, it will be proper here to give his own sketch, pre- 
pared many years later, and embracing much in regard tcKhe 
domestic and social habits of that age and vicinity. So rapid 
have been the changes in society in these respects, that the 
simple practices in our fathers' days are even now a refreshing 
novelty. 



REQUISITES IN A WIFE. ISf 

At the period we allude to — the early part of the present cen- 
tury — every farmer's daughter, and every girl raised in a farmer's 
family of the best credit, was trained by theory and practice in the 
routine of household affairs. This was not peculiar to New Eng- 
land. In New York among the Dutch settlements in the older 
parts of that State, as well as in the families from New England 
that planted themselves in middle and western New York, in New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania, in Kentucky and Tennessee — even in 
the ** Old Dominion" and further South where servants performed 
the more onerous labor — the mistress of the family was the over- 
seer in her department. The daughters were trained to follow the 
footsteps of the mother. The dairy, the poultry, and the garden, 
showed proofs enough of their industry and skill. 

In the Northern and Middle States no girl raised on a farm was 
deemed fit to marry, until her bedding, clothing, window curtains, 
towels, table-cloths, and every article of domestic manufacture, 
were made with her own hands in quantities suflBcient for respecta- 
ble housekeeping. And no y6ung man who had enterprise, in- 
dustry, and forethought, would marry a peevish, whimsical, senti- 
mental, lazy slattern. Young men, then, who made visits to fami- 
lies for a specific purpose were ingenious in finding out the domes- 
tic habits and qualities of the mother before they committed them- 
selves to the daughter. 

We have drawn this portraiture that our readers may under- 
stand to what class the writer was guided by Providence in the 
selection of the woman who, for nearly fOrty-eight years, proved 
his true helpmate. 

She is thus described by his own hand : 

Sally Paine — as was her customary designation in childliood 
— was born in the county of Greene, N. Y., January 31, 1789. Her 
mother died before she was twelve years old. Sally (who assumed 
the legitimate name Sarah on entering womanhood) kept house for 
her father, and had the charge of three younger children for two 
years. The mother she had lost was an excellent housewife, but 
one would think her daughter was too young to learn domestic 
economy. Yet her father and others in the neighborhood ever 
spoke of her as an extraordinary girl for tidiness, economy, and 
domestic cultivation. She had but a few weeks opportunity of 
school education, yet she taught herself and her brothers, a.nd set 
them an example which would have done credit to any female of 



20 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

mature age. After her father's second marriage she went to reside 
■with her mother's parents — plains old-fashioned farming people in 
Litchfield, Ct. Then she had opportunity of attending the common 
district school some part of each season. Slight as were these ad- 
vantages, she obtained from them, as was the common result of. the 
traming of those days, a hardy, robust constitution, high health, a 
vigorous mind, and a reasonable supply of common-sense. 

In 1807, during an extensive revival of religion, in the first 
parish of Litchfield, Sarah Paine professed to be savingly converted 
to God, and next year joined the Congregational Church then under 
the pastoral care of Rev. Danl. Huntington. It was at that period 
we became personally acquainted, which resulted in esteem for each 
other. 

We knew nothing of the sickly, sentimental, mixed emotion 
called love, so faithfully and foolishly portrayed in the novelettes 
and periodicals of this age. We were joined in marriage on the 
8th of May, 1809. About one month later, the young husband 
with his chosen bride might have been seen on a farm-wagoa with 
a load of household furniture. The chairs, table, bureau, kitchen 
utensils, and a few other articles, were the gift of her grandparents ; 
but every article of bedding, table-linen, and personal clothing for 
home wear, with many other et ceteras, were made by her own 
hands. And yet she was but twenty years and four months old, 
and her husband was nine months younger. AVe moved "into the 
house where the writer was born, and lived with his father and 
mother about two years. 

Some of the correspondence between these parties before 
their marriage, and much afterward, has passed under review 
in the preparation of this chapter, and if it does not imply 
mutual hve — the purest and the best — it certainly looks very 
much like it. Yet it is singularly free from what would be 
rightly called foolish sentimentalism. A confiding esteem 
based on the sterling excellencies discovered in each other, 
controlled by Christian principle, expresses briefly and justly 
what was the nature of their affection. How noble were its 
achievements, and how faithfully and perseveringly it enabled 
them to illustrate with beautiful and winning simplicity their 
sacred union for nearly half a century, these pages will confirm. 



REMOVES TO YORK STATE. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

Removes to York State — Joins tlie Baptists — Begins Preacliing. 

When their eldest child was a month or two old, the ex- 
pectation was that the infant would be taken to the meeting 
and " dedicated to God by baptism/' as the phrase was. The 
mother, for some reason, had no confidence in the Scriptural 
authority of infant baptism when she joined the church ; and 
the father, who had previously examined the subject, until he 
honestly supposed he had proofs enough of it by inference, at 
that period was in such perplexity as to stay proceedings. 
The wftiter following, these parents had a number of inter- 
views with Kev. Lyman Beecher — since the venerable Dr. 
Beecher — who by a series of fair and candid efforts was unsuc- 
cessful in convincing either of them of the Scriptural authority 
of this Pedobaptist rite. 

Next, and at no remote period, they were found revolving 
the question of a removal to Mrs. Peck's native region. The 
reasons for this procedure were probably such as often in that 
day and since have induced the enterprising and hardy fami- 
lies of New England to seek ampler room and more encour- 
aging prospects beyond her narrow boundaries. But the sun- 
dering of ties which bind them to their early homes always 
costs a pang. Theirs, too, was a Christian home. In that 
humble dwelling the morning and evening sacrifice had been 
offered to God, their early vows had there been recorded, 
and the day when they bade those hallowed scenes farewell 
could not but' have been tinged with a tender sadness. But 
they were young and hopeful; and they felt that while the 
wide world was all before them where to choose. Providence 
wofild be their guide. This transition and its results are thus 
presented by the pen of Dr. Peck at a comparatively recent 
period : 



22 MEMOIR or JOHN m. peck. 

BEMINISCENCES OF "YORK STATE." 

It was in the spring of 1811, 1 moved ray family, consisting of 
a wife and one child, from South Farms, my native parish, in Con- 
necticut, into the town of Windham, Greene county, N. Y. The 
place of my residence for the summer was then known as Big 
Hollow, a deep, narrow valley or gorge, near the head of one of the 
Kills or mountain streams that united with East-Kill, West-Kill, 
and other streams, to form Schoharie-Eall. It meandered through 
a settlement further down, long since known as Prattsville, the site 
of an extensive tannery. 

With the exception of fifteen or twenty small clearings, on the 
mountain sides and along the hollow for several miles, the country 
was a dense wilderness, consisting of massive hemlocks, intermixed 
with sugar maple, beech, birch, fir, and ironwood. Occasionally there 
were clumps of pine. The Big Hollow settlement consisted of 
seven families, mine making the eighth, within the distance of three 
miles from the center. This was distinguished by a small log build- 
ing which was occasionally occupied as a school-house, and on Sab- 
bath by a religious meeting, conducted by Deacon Hitchcock, the 
patriarch of this Uttle settlement. The venerable deacon originated 
from Connecticut, belonging to the race of Congregational Puritans, 
and of course was a rigid Pedobaptist, as were most of the members 
of his family, who made half the population of the valley. 

The writer and his wife were then, nominally, of the same de- 
nomination ; but a year's careful investigation had brought them, 
theoretically, on to Baptist ground. On invitation of the deacon, I 
joined in the meeting. Having acquired the faculty of reading with 
fluency and correctness, and being in possession of a number of 
printed sermons, new to the hearers, I aided the deacon in reading, 
and making the concluding prayer. Occasionally, if the sermon was 
short, I spoke a httle extempore. This habit, and that of praying 
in social meetings, had been acquired in the "Young People's 
Conference," held during an extensive revival in Litchfield, Ct. 

It was during the period of the earlier settlement of this village, 
before my first visit, when twelve or fifteen famiUes, and as many 
professors of religion, made up the community, that Deacon Hitch- 
cock made an abortive attempt to get a Presbyterian church organ- 
ized. It so happened, that at least one-half the professors had 
their doubts about the Scriptural claims of Pedobaptism. But 
what made the matter the more unpleasant to the good old deacon 
was the fact that a daughter-in-law and her husband began to show 



• 



CONTROVERSY ON INFANT BAPTISM. gjl 

Bymptoms of believing in Scriptural baptism. As this question 
must be settled, and doubts removed, before a Pedobaptist church 
could be formed, the deacon made application to the Rev. Mr. 
Townsend, then pastor of the Presbyterian church in New Durham, 
to make them a visit, and remove the doubts Baptist principles had 
engendered. A day was fixed, and some of the people sent word 
to Deacon Rundell, who belonged to a Baptist church called Cairo, 
on the east side of the mountains. The parties met, and Mr. 
Townsend, by a very familiar illustration, showed how the inftint 
children of behevers were brought into covenant relation with 
their parents, and became entitled to baptism. " It is done by graft- 
ing," said the shrewd divine. "You all know when the scion is 
inserted in the stock by grafting, there are little buds on it that are 
grafted in also. These buds represent the infants, who are received 
to baptism by virtue of the faith of the parents." This was all 
plain, and no mistake ; for the minister had proved it by reference 
to the eleventh chapter of Romans. Some of the company called 
on Deacon Rundell for his views. Now it so happened, the deacon 
had a large nursery, raised and sold grafted fruit-trees to the farmers 
throughout the country, and was a quick-witted, shrewd man withal. 
" Deacon Rundell, you understand all about grafting, and know the 
Scriptures too," replied one of the doubters. " Why, yes," said the 
deacon ; " I have supplied all the people with fruit-trees of my own 
grafting on t'other side of the mountains, and guess I shall furnish 
several hundred for Windham this fall. But in grafting I always 
noticed one thing that the minister has overlooked. The little buds, 
when grafted in with the scion, always produced good fruit. If the 
children of believing parents always produce the fruits of righteous- 
ness, I think they ought to be baptized, because they are in spiritual 
union, not with their parents, but with the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Head of the Church." The response from the minister was : " Mr. 
Rundell, we did not meet here to controvert disputed points ; re- 
ligious controversy is very unprofitable. We will close the meet- 
ing." This story was told the writer by some parties interested. 
It prevented the formation of a Presbyterian church at that time. 
Learning that the Baptist church of New Durham held meetings 
monthly in a school-house on the Batavia turnpike, some five miles 
north of our residence, and over the mountain by a winding path, 
the writer might have been seen, with wife and babe about thirteen 
months old, wending his way up the side of a steep moimtain, on a 
beautiful Sabbath morning, the 10th day of August. We arrived at 
the place of worship before any of the members who lived near 



24 MEMOIR OF JOUN M. PECK. 

made their appearance. As they dropped in, one after another, 
they greeted the strangers with a hearty welcome, inq^uiring, of 
course, if we were Baptists. The facts being stated, the welcomes 
became more cordial than before, and conversation on religious sub- 
jects occupied the time till the pastor arrived, which, according to 
usage, was rather late. This was Elder Hermon Harvey, who was 
a descendant of a Baptist generation of that name. His father was 
Deacon Obed Harvey. The family, I think, was originally from 
Rhode Island, but at a later period from " Nine Partners," in Dutch- 
ess county. Elder Harvey was a person of middle size and stature, 
between thirty and thirty-five years of age. He was a plain, com- 
mon-place preacher, studious in the Scriptures, mild in temper, and, 
Hke other Baptist preachers at that period, worked a farm, received 
casual contributions from the brethren, and was quite as self-deny- 
ing, and devoted to the work of the ministry, as the men of modern 
times.. I suppose he is still living, though he must be quite ad- 
vanced in live. I met him for the last time at the Rensselaerville 
Association, in 1842. 

The brethren introduced us to the pastor before he had time to 
take his seat by the rough table that served for the pulpit, behind 
which he stood to preach the gospel to an attentive congregation. 
By that time we were made acquainted with every Baptist and some 
other persons within the house. In this mode of reception there 
was nothing new or strange with the plain, country Baptist congre- 
gations at that period in New York State. There was much of fra- 
ternal feeling and social hospitality. Those who came from a dis- 
tance were provided with refreshments by those who lived near. 
Their attire was plain homespun garments, put on clean and tidy 
for the Sabbath, and worn by laboring men and women through the 
week. Generally, the people were in straitened circumstances. If 
any vehicles brought the family to meetings, they were plain, rough, 
farming wagons. Men, women, and children, often walked three or 
four miles. In one thing they had the advantage of the present 
generation. Neither custom, fashion, pride, nor luxury, compelled 
them to pay heavy taxes for the benefit of their neighbors' eyes. 
In this manner was I first introduced to the Baptists of York State. 

On the 13th of September, 1811, accompanied by my wife and 
child, we were again climbing the mountain range, to the same place 
of meeting mentioned above. It was on Saturday ; for once in three 
months the regular covenant meetings of New Durham church were 
held on the mountain. This time we carried a small bundle of light 
clothing. A great question of practical duty in obedience to Jesus 



CHL'RCH EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 25 

Christ had been settled for many months, and the opportunity had 
arrived when it could be carried out practically. I^et not our read- 
ers express surprise at two persons, in early life, with a lusty infant, 
and a bundle of clothing, walking five or six miles over a high moun- 
tain to a church meeting. The young men and women of that day 
■were hardy, robust, and thought no more of a walk, than some of 
the present effeminate race do of lolling in the easy-chair, or on the 
lounge. 

They breathed the pure, reviving air, 

That's boru upon the mountains high ; 
They saw health's ro.seate offspring there, 

And hope beamed bright from every eye. 

The members of the church assembled, and the customary greet- 
ings and hearty expressions of Christian affection passed around. 
The pastor made his appearance, and after giving out a hymn from 
AVatts, and repeating the lines, all the brethren sung it who had the 
least pretensions to the gift of modulating the voice in harmony, 
and a prayer was offered, in which every member present joined with 
sincere devotion. The pastor then introduced the old custom of " re- 
newing covenant" by all the members, male and female, giving an 
expression of their feelings, and their trials, their hopes, aspirations, 
and joys, during the past month. All spoke with frankness and ap- 
parent sincerity. The " door was opened" to hear " experiences of 
grace" from others ; and the writer and his companion gave a nar- 
rative of their conviction of sin and their gracious deliverance that 
had occurred nearly four years previous. His union with the Con- 
gregational Church, and being the subject of a ceremony that was 
regarded at the time as a substitute for Christian baptism by that 
Beet, were, of course, narrated. This ceremony consisted not in 
pouring, nor in sprinkling w^ater on the subject, but in the minister 
dipping the tips of his fingers in a basin of water and gently touch- 
ing the forehead. 

Questions then were propounded by the pastor, and opportunity 
was given for each member of the church to question the candidate 
on points of doctrine and experience. Far more pains were taken 
in the examination of candidates for baptism and membership in 
all our churches, than in this " fast age." Churches moved slow ; 
and it w^as no unusual occurrence for candidates, after the hearing 
of their relation, to be advised to wait for one or more months. 
Apostasies were rare ; church discipline was strict — far more so 
than at present ; and excommunications less, in proportion to bap- 
tisms, in all the churches. 
3 



26 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

At the close of the public exercises at the school-house, every 
person in the congregation walked half a mile to a clear, beautiful, 
mountain stream, of sufficient depth, hid away in a romantic dell, 
where the two candidates put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and made 
the oath of allegiance to the King of Zion, in the Scriptural form 
of administration. 

After the customary intermission, in which the hospitable breth- 
ren and neighbors vied with each other in providing refreshments 
for all who came from a distance, the members of the church, with 
a few spectators, repaired again to the school-house, where, after a 
brief address from the pastor, the Supper of the Lord was celebrated. 

The day was' remarkably pleasant, and a large concourse of people 
assembled to witness the baptisms. The countenances of all wore 
a solemn aspect, and the utmost regularity and good order was ob- 
served by every individual present. 

Commencement of the Ministry— Suggestions on the Christian 

Ministry. 

On Saturday, the 12th of October, 1811, the Durham church held 
its covenant-meeting in the Union School-house, on the east side of 
the mountains. This was in the Harvey Settlement. 

On our first acquaintance with the members of this church, even 
before receiving baptism, nearly every male member had had con- 
versation with us on what appeared to the writer a momentous 
question. " Don't you think you ought to preach the gospel ?" was 
seriously asked in every instance of private conversation. The 
pastor, in particular, was too inquisitive to permit an evasive an- 
swer. How these brethren, who were entire strangers, till within 
the last two months, came to entertain such surmisings, I could 
not guess. 

It was a fact known only to the writer, that, from the first hour that 
he indulged a hope of pardoning mercy, this subject lay with weight 
on his mind, which at times Avas fearfully oppressive. Every excuse 
had been put to his conscience, and yet he found no relief. The 
only periods of rest were those of backslidings in heart, and accom- 
panied with doubts of his title to the divine promises. And as the 
period of his baptism drew nigh, the pressure of duty returned. 
During the past month, since his consecration to Christ by baptism, 
the question of his duty to preach the gospel had become quite agi- 
tating. Still, had the brethren, and especially the pastor, not men- 
tioned it, probably the subject would have remained for a much 
longer time a private grief. 



BEGINS PREACHING. 27 

Before the church canie to order, two or three of the brethren, 
with the pastor, urged a disclosure of my feelings to the Mother- 
hood. When it came to my turn to speak, as was then customary, 
T gave a statement of my views and feelings on preaching the gospel, 
and of the trials I had experienced for nearly four years on that 
subject, and thus submitted the matter to the church, desiring them 
to judge prayerfully and impartially what they considered my duty, 
and left the house. In a few minutes a brother called me in, when 
I learned the church had voted to have me ''improve my gift," as 
they expressed it, within their limits, until they gained evidence of 
my call to, and qualifications for, the work of the Christian ministry. 
They also voted that I conduct the meeting, and speak to the con- 
gregation in the aftt^rnoon of the next day. All this, I learned after- 
wards, was in accordance with the old Baptist practice, especially in 
country churches. I was not wholly unprepared. At various times, 
in seasons of thoughtfulncss and study, I had drawn out plans of 
discourses from texts of Scripture. One subject had primary place 
in my thoughts and affections : that of Christian missions, or preach- 
ing the gospel to every creature. 

Next day, in presence of a crowded congregation, I made my 
first essay in speaking from a text. This was Mark xvi. 15 : "And 
he said unto them. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
to every creature." At the close, I thought that no temptation or 
despondency would ever cause me to doubt the Divine mission, but 
one week had not passed away without sore trials on this question. 

I have given this sketch of personal history to call the attention 
of readers to the old practice in Baptist churches, of praying the 
Lord of the harvest to thrust forth laborers, and especially the anxi- 
ety and restlessness of the brethren in finding out who had the 
*' call" and the " gift." 

I have not a word to object against the efforts made to look out 
and educate young men who give evidence of the gifts and graces 
indispensable to the ministry, but the great and serious mistake 
consists in the following particulars : 

1. In fixing the impression on the churches, that young men, and 
none hut young men, are to be looked for in relation to that office. 
Nothing is said about men with families, and settled in business, 
becoming preachers. This omission has done the mischief, until 
what was once most common has become a rare exception. 

2. That these young men must he first educated, all to the same 
extent, and in the same school, in classical literature, science, and 
theology. Many men, in some parts of our country, and in other 



28 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

countries where the gospel is preached and Baptist churches exist, 
by self-tuition, under the guidance of ministers of experience, with- 
out a classical and scientific education, become qualiiied for the min- 
istry. They make useful and successful pastors and evangelists, by 
the thorough training they get in the Word of God, by personal 
efforts and constant practice. They learn to 'preach the gospel with 
power and success, and to perform the duties of the Christian pastor, 
or the itinerating evangelist, though they may learn little else. 

3. That no others but young men, thus educated, will answer for 
pastors in the churches. 

All these exceptionable notions have been borrowed from the 
Calvinistic Puritans within the last thirty years, and no more fit 
Baptists for the work they have to do than Saul's armor suited the 
stripling David. Uothe Baptists in "York State" look among their 
enterprising men of thirty or fort^'^ years, or even amongst obscure 
members of strong common-sense and ripe experience, for the ma- 
terials of their ministry ? Has the instance occurred at meetings 
on ministerial education, among the agents, lecturers, and other 
speakers, urging the churches to look for ministerial gifts from any 
other class than yonng men? Is there evidence of any such anxi- 
ety and persevering effort in the churches throughout the State, to 
learn the private feelings and convictions of duty, as the members 
of the httle mountain church of Durham showed towards an indi- 
vidual, who two months previous came amongst them a stranger ? 
This course was not singular or unusual in Baptist churches at that 
period in "York State." 

Nor, with all their eagerness and anxiety to look out for ministe- 
rial gifts, were they hasty and inconsiderate in acknowledging them. 
The church first voted to invite the writer to exercise his " gift" — 
whatever it might be — within its own limits. In about three months 
they extended the limits to neighboring churches. In the spring 
of 1812, being about to make a journey to Connecticut, the last was 
recalled and a new one given, but still in the phraseology of the 
Northern churches the expression was : " Liberty to improve his 
gift wherever Divine Providence might open the door." This was 
no license to officiate, and to pass as a regular minister of the gospel, 
but only to exercise such gifts as the person possessed. Nor did 
the writer ever receive any other license until after his ordination. 
And why should men be licensed as ministers of the gospel until, 
by a suitable probation, they give evidence of the " call," the " gift," 
and the*qualifications for that office ? Why hold a brother up to the 
world as designed for a " sacred profession," until it is known that 



BAPTIST USAGES. 29 

he is fitted for that profession, and has evinced a settled determina- 
tion to enter the ministry and abide in it, either as a pastor or an 
evangelist. If he has the gift and grace of a true minister of Christ, 
he will make that the paramount business of Ufe. To use a Western 
figure, attributed to the eccentric Crockett, " He will stand up to the 
rack, fodder or no fodder." If he has the gift and enterprise that 
is characteristic of Christ's ministers, he will not wait till a church 
call him, but go into some destitute field, sustain himself and family 
by his own industry, and proceed to call a church, as many of our 
old pioneer preachers have done. 

At the church meeting last mentioned, when the writer made his 
first essay in preaching the gospel, a messenger to the Eensselaer- 
ville Association had to be appointed to fill a vacancy, and the new 
member was chosen. I use the old term. Messenger, which is the 
correct word to be employed, to designate all persons sent oh errands 
by the churches. Baptist churches cannot transfer to individual 
members, or through them convey to associations, conventions, 
councils, or any other body of man's contrivance, delegated or 
representative power. Hence the tendency to unscriptural notions 
and practices in calling things by wrong names. Messenger was 
the old Baptist term, when it was understood that Baptist churches 
could not be represented. 

This body contained fifteen churches, when the session for 1811 
closed, and thirteen ordained ministers. Total number of members 
eleven hundred and thirty-one. It had been a season of dearth for 
a long time. Only two churches indicated any thing like a revival 
the preceding year. 

Elder John AVinans was elected Moderator, and Deacon Nathaniel 
Jacobs, Sr., Clerk. 

On the second day, Elder Wayland, Sr., preached from 2 Cor. iv. 15 ; 
and, after an intermission for refreshments. Elder Pettit gave a dis- 
course from John x. 27, 28. No collections were taken for philan- 
thropic purposes ; nothing was said about missions, or even pro- 
viding preaching for the destitute. South and west, within the 
reach of this Association, was quite a destitute region, and the people 
lived in small settlements, separated from each other, through the 
valleys and mountain gorges. For the churches entirely destitute 
of pastoral visitations, monthly visits were volunteered by the Elders. 
The church of Kensselaerville and Coeymans, of thirty members, 
and the church of Catskill, of thirty-two members, were thus sup- 
plied monthly. 



30 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 



CHAPTEU III. 

PreacLing in Catskill — Ordination — Labors and Efforts for Self-im- 
provement — Illness — Necessity for Removal. 

A SHORT time after the events abnve narrated, Mr. Peck, 
having received a full letter of license to preach the gospel 
from the church at 'New Durham, of which he was a member, 
and having frequently exercised his gift where the providence 
of God opened the way before him, Avas invited to visit the 
little Baptist church in Catskill, the county-seat of Green 
county. He found here a few brethren and sisters, neither 
united nor enterprising, and continued occasionally to visit 
them till the spring of 1812. 

His family were then absent on a visit to his native Litch- 
field, Ct,, and on his way to see them he passed a day or two 
in Catskill, and was encouraged to make arrangements to 
remove there, keep a school for his support, and preach for 
the little Baptist church when they had no other supply. They 
had no house of worship, but met in private dwellings, and 
sometimes in the old court-house. They proffered no salary ; 
but whoever preached for them on the Sabbath received the 
amount of the penny collection. This he was careful to note 
in- his journal ; and the amount was less than an average of 
one dollar a week, though he ordinarily preached three or four 
times. But he loA'cd the work rather than the wages, and 
therefore made no objection to these arrangements. His diary 
at this period breathes a pure and excellent spirit. Indeed one 
cannot read it without being deeply impressed with the fer- 
vency of his devotedness to God his Saviour, and a deep 
abiding sense of his dependence on him. It would be eas}'- to 
fill many pages with extracts breathing most fervent desires 
for entire conformity to Christ, and the pantings of intense 
solicitude to be made useful to the souls of his fellow men 



STATISTICS AND JOURNEYS. 31 

At the end of March, 1812, the following entry appears in 
his journal, which is interesting as indicating how earh'^ he 
became imbued with a desire for preserving accurate statistics. 
They are the beginnings of what proved in his life a mighty 
aggregate of such gathered, accurate facts. 

I find by enumeration that in course of my past life I have had 
the privilege of hearing twenty-four Baptist preachers improve, 
many of them repeatedly. Fifteen of them I heard in Connecticut, 
the other nine since I removed to this State. [N.Y.] I have seen 
besides myself and wife three persons baptized, all of Litchfield, Ct. 
Seven times I have had the privilege of communing since I joined 
the Baptists. [Here follow the names of the preachers.] In Con- 
necticut, Rufus Babcock, Sr., Isaac Bellows, Asa Tallmadge, Ben- 
jamin Baldwin, Jesse Hartw^ell, Asa Niles, Samuel Miller, Henry 
Green, Joshua Bradly, John Sherman, Asahel Morse, Isaac Fuller, 
Oliver Tuttie, Wilson and Joseph Graves. In New York, Joseph 
Arnold, Herman Hervey, Hezekiah Pettit, Orlando Mack, Francis 
Wayland, Sr., James Mackey, Levi Streeter, Wm. Stewart, and 
Josiah Baker.* 

I have attended nine monthly church meetings, and five extra 
church meetings, in cases of discipline ; have voted for the exclu- 
sion of two members ; also have attended one Association and one 
General Conference ; and have myself tried to preach twenty-seven 
times. 

The following month he visited his family in Litchfield on 
foot, stopping after a weary walk each day where he could 
preach the gospel to those hungering for the bread of life. The 
journey and the visit occupied two or three weeks, in which 
he traveled chiefly afoot one hundred and eighty-two miles, 
and preached fifteen times. His old neighbors had not seen 
him since the change of his ecclesiastical relations, and, on 
the whole, rigid Pedobaptists as most of them were, they 
seem to have received .him and treated him with as much 

* Most of these men were personally known to me, as humble, 
unlearned, and self-sustained ministers of Christ. Some toiling on 
their little farms, others in their shops, that they might preach 
Christ, and administer his ordinances, where otherwise they could 
not have been enjoyed. Their record is on high. — Editou. 



32 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

respect and affection as could have reasonably been expected. 
The Congregational church in Litchfield South, Farms still 
claimed him as their member, since he had never sought a 
dissolution of his covenant-engagement to walk with them ; 
and they now insisted on their right and duty to discipline 
him. They stated to him that what they had against him 
was neither scandal, nor heresy, nor even his renouncing their 
sentiments and joining the Baptists ; but for leaving them before 
giving them a hearing — thus virtually excluding them without 
giving them an opportunity to defend themselves — and, if 
they could, to reclaim him. The case came before their 
church, where he was regularly arraigned, and the parties 
impleaded one another. His defence was in brief this : he 
did not deny that it was his duty to make the effort for re- 
claiming them from what he regarded their error in reference 
to baptism. But according to the rules of the gospel he must 
first reform himself, by being baptized, and then endeavor to 
reform them, which he w^as now willing to attempt, both by 
precept and example ; by Scripture argument and the alluring 
act itself — the best of all arguments. In brief he found, as 
he thought, himself and his brethren in a practical error, con- 
sisting in the neglect of the believer's first duty — baptism. 
Hence he deemed it his duty first to reform himself, and then 
endeavor to reclaim his erring brethren. To which his op- 
ponent, Esq. Morris, replied that it was a principle applicable 
to all associated bodies, that one who had entered into a vol- 
untary covenant engagement should not abandon his associ- 
ates without at least giving them fair notice, or asking leave ; 
that it was unmanly to do so. 

There was perhaps an element of truth in the positions of 
each ; and to the praise of the candor and forbearance of the 
church it should be stated, that when they could not bring 
their delinquent brother to acknowledge that he had done 
wrong by leaving them in the icay he did, they did not 
harshly and summaril}^ excommunicate him, but laid the case 
over, from April to September, exhorting him meanwhile to 
consider their expostulations. How much better and more 



NEIGHBORLY INTERCOURSE. S3 

Christian-like was this than severer measures and an unlovely 
spirit which churches not in ecclesiastical fellowship with each 
other often evince. Their personal relations and their Chris- 
tian intercourse through it all remained unbroken ; and finally, 
some dozen years later, they invited him to preach in their 
meeting-house, thus virtually canceling their slight censure. 
Whenever he visited his native town, all classes gathered 
around him with a loving and fraternal interest, and on the 
occasion of the centennial celebration of the organization of 
the country in the summer of 1851, he was invited by the 
committee — almost exclusively Pedobaptists — to take an im- 
portant part in the interesting public services. But Harvard 
University had before this time honored him with one of its 
highest badges of distinction ; and Litchfield might well be 
proud of a son, who had reflected more honor on his birth- 
place than she could now confer on him. 

The summer of 1812 found him diligently plying his double 
duties in Catskill. His school flourished and j^elded him 
and his little family the amount of support which their fru- 
gality and industry made sufiice. His preaching was pretty 
regularly continued, and somewhat extended — wherever most 
urgently demanded — in the regions around. He frequently 
visited Hudson ; and before the end of this year found in the 
excellent pastor of that church, Rev. Hervey Jenks, a neighbor 
of congenial and truly fraternal spirit. This excellent man — 
alas, so early cut down by death — was a recent graduate of 
Brown University ; for a short time had been preceptor of its 
grammar-school in Providence ; and having enjoyed ample 
opportunities of intellectual and religious culture, was able to 
impart to the young licentiate in close proximity just the 
assistance in his earnest endeavors for self-improvement for 
which he was now panting. 

Yery instructive and delightful it is to trace the benign 
influence which was thus exerted on the voumz: licentiate's 
mind. His reading, study, and labor, henceforth assume a 
higher and worthier aim ; and the results vrere speedily mani- 
fest. Their correspondence too was frequent, animated and, 



84 . MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

to Mr. Peck, very improving, though they were located but 
six miles apart, and saw each other very frequently. But 
their full hearts could not wait for the expected Saturday 
interview, and hence those exercises of the pen which still 
remain, a memorial as beautiful and fragrant as the record of 
the union of David and Jonathan. 

From the Kev. Dr. Porter, also, pastor of the Presbyterian 
church in Catskill, a man of some peculiarities, but able, and 
generally of genial and catholic spirit, Mr. Peck experienced 
many courtesies adapted to promote his improvement. They 
attended funerals together, and listened to each other's exercises 
frequently. Mr. Peck, as the younger and less improved of 
the two, would be likely to receive the greater benefit in this 
intercourse. Occasional entries in his journal would seem to 
indicate that he thought the Doctor rather marred than im- 
proved, by his deep tinge of Hopkinsianism, and a pretty 
plain implication is furnished that the strong and undiluted 
Calvinism of Dr. Chester, of Hudson, was more to his taste. 
Honorable mention is also made of the family of Judge Day, 
of Catskill, to whose hospitalities he seems to have been cor- 
dially welcomed ; and when they were in deep affliction, and 
their own pastor, Dr. Porter, was either absent or indisposed, 
Mr. Peck was invited to officiate, and in all respects was 
treated with a marked degree of deference and esteem. Such 
traces, honorable alike to the givers and receiver, are the more 
noticeable and deserving of commendation on the part of the 
Presbyterians, from the fact that the Baptists were making 
inroads upon them continually. In his circumstances, having 
recently come out from a Pedobaptist communion, the ordi- 
nance of baptism was very likely to occupy a prominent place 
in his thoughts, his conversation, and his public ministry. In 
his diary he thus notices the first administration of baptism 
the month after he commenced preaching in Catskill, and a 
year before his own ordination : 

Lord's Day, 21st June, 1812. — In the forenoon Elder Hervey being 
with us preached from Isaiah xxxv. 8. Afterward we repaired to 
the river side, where prayer is wont to be made, and after a short 



A BAPTISM WITNESSED. , 36 

but appropriate address by the administrator the two young candi- 
dates were baptized in water — a beautiful emblem of Christ's death, 
burial, and resurrection. Such an interesting scene I never before 
beheld. The situation of the place, the devout attention of a large 
audience, the tears discovered trickling down the cheeks of many, 
together with the solemnity of the ordinance itself, seemed deeply 
to impress my mind with a profound sense of the propriety of 
strict adherence to apostolic precedent in the administration of 
baptism. At the close of the afternoon service, when the baptized 
had been welcomed into the fellowship of the church, I presented 
my letter of dismission from Durham church ; and after relating 
Iny experience, was admitted to this church, and we had a precious 
season around the Lord's table. Truly we might say it was a feast 
of fat things, and the Lord was sensibly present with us. At six 
o'clock I preached at Brother Hill's house. Had a comfortable 
ti]ne ; and after meeting, an aged gentleman came forward and re- 
lated what the Lord had done for him, desiring to join with us, and 
was fellowshipped. In the morning, the youth forsake the vanities 
of the world, and profess to be dead to sin and alive to God. In 
the evening, the aged wish to enter on the service of the Lord, and 
go into the vineyard at the eleventh hour. 

Well might he subjoin : "I never experienced such a day 
before." Then follows an affecting expression of his sense of 
great responsibility in ministering to that little church, now 
happily — and by the aid of an advisory council called in part 
at his instance — reconciled and walking in love. He was now 
employed in feeding the lambs of the flock with the sincere 
milk of the word, that they might grow thereby ; in guiding 
inquirers to the Lamb of God ; and again in meeting the 
w^ants of others who were tried about baptism and wanted 
light to guide them. Similar exercises and successes con- 
tinue to be noted till the end of the year. By a careful devote- 
ment of all his spare hours when out of school, to self-im- 
provement and to preparation for preaching, he was rapidly 
advancing in grace and knowledge. Soon after the end of 
his first year in Catskill, the following summary appears of 
his entire course of ministrations, with all which he had re- 
ceived in pecuniary recompense. He had preached in all 114 
times, viz. : in Durham and vicinity, 42 times ; in Litchfield, Ct., 



3G MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

16 times ; in Hudson, 9 times ; in Madison (a little village 
contiguous to his residence in Catskill), 15 times ; and in 
Catskill, 92 times. He had also attended 23 monthly church 
meetings, and 7 on special business ; attended 13 funerals, 
^ associations, and 1 general conference. Had received as a 
compensation for preaching, as follows : Litchfield, $1 16 cts.; 
in Hudson, $4 12 J cts.; in Catskill, $15 88 cts.; in Madison, 
$21 8*1 cts. By subscription, presents, and otherwise, $18 92 
cts., or $61 95 cts. in all. He enters no complaint, and appar- 
ently feels no grievance that his work was not more ade- 
quately remunerated. 

The church in Catskill, at the end of his first year's resi- 
dence and service with them, invited him to be ordained ; and 
a council was called for that purpose, which met June 9, 
1813. The Presbyterian church was cordially proffered and 
accepted for the services, and Dr. Porter was invited to sit and 
dine with the council, which he did. After the usual examin- 
ation, which w^as deemed satisfactory, the ordination sermon 
and right-hand of fellowship were by his neighbor and beloved 
brother, Rev. Hervey Jcnks. Other principal parts were perr 
formed by Elders Stewart, Streeter, Mack, Hervey, and 
Pettit. All the services were appropriate and solemn, and 
were listened to with lively interest by a large congregation. 

The next Sabbath he baptized several candidates, and ad- 
ministered the Lord's Supper ; and within a week officiated 
at his first marriage, of which he has given us the written 
form which he adopted, and the amount of fee (one dollar) 
which was tendered him. Thus was he very fully inducted 
into all the functions of the ministerial office. 

His internal trials in the discharge of his duties seem some- 
times to have been severe and protracted. But he learned 
gradually that for all these seasons of darkness and depression 
there was an adequate cause, physical -or moral, and he be- 
came an adept in this species of pathology, and by carefully 
securing a correct diagnosis of his own soul, he w^as the 
better prepared to minister successfully to the spiritual mala- 
dies, or the morbid imaginations of others. Those who have 



EXPERIENCES — PLANS — MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 31 

only known him in the last half of his public life — ^who have 
seen his spirits so buoyant and his disposition so equable, 
would scarcely expect to find in his early years such evi- 
dences as his journal discloses of a spirit so widely dissimilar. 
This morbid succession of heights and depths he learned to 
estimate more correctly as he advanced to maturity. These 
pages might be filled with the record of them, but they are not 
in harmony with his maturer judgment, and will therefore be 
passed over. So, too, of the somewhat profuse recording of 
his pious resolutions very formally adoptej^l on frequent occa- 
sions of self-examination, for the first few years of his public 
life, he early became apparently ashamed, and his practice in 
this respect changed from about the time of his ordination. 
His determination to do his duty to God and to his fellow men, 
to the very best and utmost of his ability, became more and 

more strong and equable, and would — so he thought be more 

impeded and distracted than benefited by a superabundance 
of abstract rules and resolutions previously adopted. 

At one period he had n^nutely mapped out his whole time, 
giving a specific appropriation of duties to every hour. But 
the necessary interruptions and variations to which a pastor's 
and teacher's life in such a population as here surrounded him, 
is necessarily exposed, made adherence to this plan practically 
impossible. Pastors will in the end very generally come to 
adopt Dr. Payson's apothegm : " The man who wants me is 
the man I want. " The duty now most urgently pressing must 
first be met, despite all abstract rules. 

The first indication of the missionary spirit which so thor- 
oughly pervaded his subsequent life is found in his diary a 
few weeks subsequent to his ordination ; and in consideration 
of its wide-reaching and healthful results, it deserves to be 
here copied and preserved. This, be it remembered, was just 
before the news reached us of the conversion of Judson and 
Kice to Baptist views, and the incipient steps were taken for 
commencing our foreign mission operations : 

Friday eyexixg, June 25, 1813. Eeceived the last number of the 
Baptist Missionary Magazine. The missionary accounts from India 
4 



38 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

are very interesting. How many thousands of the poor benighted 
heathen there are who worship the idol of Juggernaut and adore 
the river Ganges, but are ignorant of the way of salvation through 
Jesus Christ ! How can Christians in this land of high privileges 
sit easy and unconcerned, without contributRig out of their abun- 
dance to spread the gospel in distant pagan lands ! My soul is 
grieved for them in their ignorance. Oh, how I wish I was so circum- 
stanced in life as that I might be able to bear the gospel into some dis- 
tant pagan lands where it never yet has shined ! A large part of the 
American continent is also involved in darkness. Yes, under the 
immediate Government of the United States, there is an abundant 
field for missionary labor. How I should rejoice if Providence 
would open a door for my usefulness and labors in this way ! [This 
prayer w^as certainly answered, but not yet was the door opened.] 
But alas, how idle and vain are my thoughts ! In this place I am 
too faithless, too prone to wander. Oh, that I might first learn to 
perform the duties which come within my reach, and not presume 
to think I should be more faithful in another part of the vineyard ! 

One means of improvement adopted by brethren Peck, 
Jenks, and Lamb — three Baptist ministers living near each 
other — was to meet every fortnight at each other's houses 
and discuss some question previously proposed. In this way 
they appear to have gone over a number of the important 
topics of systematic theology much to their mutual satisfac- 
tion and edification. But before the year closed these multi- 
plied efforts in his day school, in an evening school which he 
conducted to eke out a scanty support, and in his numerous 
evangelical labors, proved too hard for him. His health 
failed, and he was brought apparently to the brink of the 
grave. His wife also, at another time this year, was very 
dangerously ill ; but both experienced recovering mercy. In 
the meantime his improvement became ijiore and more obvious 
to his ministering and other brethren. He was made clerk 
of the Association for two consecutive years, and wrote by 
appointment both the circular and corresponding letter — the 
first of his compositions submitted to the press. The circular 
was on Election. This Scripture doctrine he explained and 
substantiated, and showed both its use and abuse. During 
this year, also, he determined no longer to attempt preaching 



UNSTUDIED SERMONS — REMOVAL. 39 

without carefully stuching each sermon. He acknowledges 
the injurious effect on his OAvn mind, as well as on his hearers, 
of going before his audience without due preparation and 
trusting to the impulse of the moment for the thoughts and 
illustrations which he should employ. It was but too common 
with one class of preachers in that day (not of course the in- 
telligent) to profess that they did not premeditate, but it was 
given them in the same hour — so they said — what they should 
utter. Yet such is the inconsistency of poor human nature, 
these very men, if they heard from a studious brother minister 
an excellent and well elaborated sermon, would not scruple, 
when they thought the plagiarism would not be detected, to 
appropriate to their own use such a discourse, and deliver it, 
nearly as they could remember it, as though it had been given 
them by a direct communication from heaven. 

His inadequate support — the result in part of breaking up 
his school during his sickness, and the fact that two summers 
he had suffered in health by his residence and excessive labors 
in Catskill — began to prepare his mind for leaving that affec- 
tionate little flock. About the end of the year 1813 he re- 
ceived an intimation of the desire of the Baptist church in 
Amenia, Dutchess county, that he would come and labor with 
them. After two visits among them, and the repetition of their 
invitation, accompanied with the proffer of such support as 
would enable him to give up a school, and devote himself 
more concentratedly to the work of the ministry and to his 
further improvement in education, he felt it his duty to accept 
their invitation. The church in Catskill, in conformity to his 
request, yet with much reluctance on their part, granted him 
release from his pastoral care over them ; and in a letter, 
bearing date February 19, 1814, expressed their gratitude for 
his fidelity in the discharge of his onerous and almost unre- 
quited labors among them for almost two years ; and the 
assurances of their love, their gratitude, and their prayers for 
his success in the new sphere where Providence seemed to 
call him. This love was mutual, and he seems to have ever 
borne towards the flock, whom he first served, unabated affec- 
tion ; and it is pleasant to notice their mutual regard in all 
tJie future years of his course 



4e 



MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECIL 



CHAPTER ly. 

PastorsTiip in Ameuia — Missionary Zeal and Labors. 

On his first visit to Amenia, he records in his journal that 
he found a respectable church and congregation, who appeared 
in union, though there was much complaint of coldness among 
them. Deacon Richard Gurnsey, one of the best of men, 
was a leading instrument of his settlement with that people. 
When our brother came to know them more intimately, he 
found many things of a discouraging character impeding the 
success of his labors. Discipline had been sadly neglected, 
and a great part of the efforts for the two years he remained 
with them had to be devoted to weeding out the disorders 
which had been suffered to accumulate until they threatened 
the ruin of the cause. The flock was somewhat widely scat- 
tered in their residences on the mountain, and indeed over it, 
as well as for a long distance up and down the fertile and 
beautiful valley where their house of worship was located. 
Some families, too, resided across the state line in Connecticut, 
so that a widely diversified field of active labor was continu- 
ally demanding his utmost energies, intellectual and physical. 
His preaching was prized ; and there were calls for lectures, 
or prayer and conference meetings, in so many different neigh- 
borhoods, that he was kept in lively motion a great part of 
his time. But relief from the drudgery of the school operated 
favorably on his health, and his thirst for improvement tasked 
his powers to the utmost. That noble man, and scholar and 
teacher, Daniel H. Barnes, was at this time Principal of 
Dutchess Academy in Poughkeepsie, and an esteemed member 
and ere long a licentiate of the Baptist Church. Mr. Peck 
formed his accpaintance, and by his generous proffer was 
encouraged to commence under his instruction the reading of 



* STUDIES — LABORS HOPES OF A REVIVAL. 41 

the Greek Xew Testament, as well as other kindred studies 
which he prosecuted. Week after week he would devote four 
days or more to earnest study under the guidance of this most 
excellent instructor — living in his family, and spurred on by 
the enthusiasm which this -teacher felt and communicated. 
The Rev. Dr. Aaron Perkins was then his fellow-student, and 
bears honorable testimony concerning the fidelity, conscien- 
tiousness, and vigor of his associate in study. 

Early in the second year of Mr. Peck's pastorship at Ame- 
nia, his hopes were highly raised of an extensive revival under 
his labors. How ardently he desired it, how indefatigably he 
labored for its promotion, and with what pious confidence in 
God, and what a deep sense of self-abasement and personal 
unworthiness he relied on Divine grace alone, his journal at 
this period abundantly testifies. The zeal which he put forth 
to multiply his religious services, and the carefulness he evinced 
to promptly instruct and encourage inquirers, were highly com- 
mendable. But he seems to have failed — as many others 
there and elsewhere have failed — to awaken the zeal, the self- 
denying and hopeful activities of the church members, so as 
to induce them to co-operate with him in his pious and praise- 
worthy endeavors. Probably these members, or many of 
them at least, thought his zeal was not according to knowl- 
edge — that he had taken counsel of his desires, rather than 
of any unmistakable tokens of the Divine favor. They saw 
not the little cloud rising out of the sea, foretokening the 
abundance of rain, nor heard they "the goings in the tops of 
the mulberry trees" (a favorite emblem among these spiritual- 
izing ministers and people of the olden times), and hence they 
did not expect at that time great things from God, and of 
course were very slow in attempting great things for God. 
Some of his brethren indicated their unbelief of a revival as 
near at hand, by reviving difficulties and church labors of dis- 
cipline on trifling matters, most vexatious in their influence, 
which for weeks and months attracted the chief attention and 
absorbed the«zeal and spirit which the young pastor had hoped 
to turn into a worthier channel. Thus his hopes were blighted, 



42 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the Holy Spirit was grieved away, and but few souls were 
converted. How sadly and deeply he mourned over this and 
similar hindrances to the progress of the cause with which 
his soul was identified, is sufficiently manifest by frequent and 
characteristic entries in his diary. But God was evidently 
preparing him, by these very reverses, for a more cordial wel- 
coming of what was to be his grand life-labor. 

In the month of June, 1815, at the session of the Warwick 
Association, which met that year with the church at Lattin- 
town, of which his Brother Aaron Perkins was pastor, he met 
for the first time with Rev. Luther Rice, who with character- 
istic ardor was posting from one association to another fanning 
the flame of missionary zeal. In this case the spark fell on a 
train already laid, where little effort was needed to kindle a 
soul already panting with intense desire to be and to do some- 
thing worthy of its nature, its alliance, its destination. In a 
word, Mr. Rice found in young Peck a congenial spirit ready 
to drink in the words of fervent, glowing, holy love, in which 
one who had just returned from heathen shores portrayed the 
degradation of pagan gloom, and the duty and privilege of 
hastening to rescue the souls of the perishing heathen from 
destruction. After listening to the public appeal, the pastor 
of Amenia managed to take Mr. Rice home with him ; and 
in the hours they thus spent together a plan was consummated 
for employing the former by the latter to visit in the coming 
months two or three associations in central New York to pro- 
mote a missionary spirit among them. A better and surer 
method could not have been taken to perpetuate in his own 
bosom the holy devotedness with which he was now beginning 
to be imbued. 

Ere long, therefore, having already made a hurried visit, 
with success to the Franklin Association, by the consent of his 
church, as it may be presumed, he set forth for a more thor- 
ough labor with the others on this, to him, most important 
and decisive tour. The record of it, very nearly filling his 
Diary No. 5 (the first of those of a small, portable form), is 
peculiarly interesting from the nature of the services in which 



VISIT TO HA3IILT0N AND EATON. 43 

he was then for the first time engaging, and from the persons 
with whom he then first came in contact, and the incipient 
missionary movements which he was instrumental in setting 
in motion, as wel] as some of the scenes he Visited — since so 
hallowed in their associations, and where so many of the de- 
voted missionaries have been trained. For all these reasons, 
our readers will justly prize the reproduction of considerable 
portions of this journal in our pages. 

Hamilton, September lO^/i, 1815. Lord's Day. In the morning I 
heard Elder Hascall preach a funeral sermon from Luke xii. 37. 
He is a moderate speaker, but of sound judgment. In the after- 
noon I preached with a great degree of freedom from Luke xix. 10. 
The audience solemn, attentive" and many affected. May the word 
be blessed for their good ! Spent the night at the house of Brother 
King. Had a vei^ agreeaile interview with him and his family. 
Conversed on the beauties of* poetry to which Mr. King is much 
attached. 

lli!/i. Still I enjoy the presence of my Eedeemer. I can truly 
say my cup runneth over with blessings. I find kind and endearing 
friends wherever I go, who strive to make me comfortable. My 
mind is no longer harassed with the cares of the world, and per- 
plexed with the embarrassments of my temporal concerns at home. 
Now and then a thought of anxiety and grief steals across my mind 
in reference to my family. But this is hushed when considering 
that I have dedicated them to my God, and left them in his hands. 
With the greatest confidence in the rectitude of his government, 
I can anticipate the time of meeting my dear companion and my 
prattling babes as they gather around on my return. In the evening 
preached in the meeting-house in Hamilton from Psalm Ixxxv. 10. 
Weather rainy, so that not many were present. Enjo^^ed consider- 
able freedom in opening and explaining the doctrine of the atone- 
ment. My mind still continues engaged. I feel an ardent desire 
of doing good wherever I go. 

Vlth. In company with Brother Hascall I went to Eaton — eight 
miles — where the association is to meet to-morrow. [Here was 
the residence and pastorship of that eminent man of God, Nathan'l 
Kendrick, D.D., so long Divinity professor in the Hamilton Institu- 
tion, and who shared with Dr. Hascall the honor of founding it.] 
Put up at Brother Eels. In the afternoon the Hamilton Domestic 
Missionary Society met and arranged their affairs for the year en- 



44 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

suing. This society is greatly assisted by female auxiliaries who 
manufacture cloth and other useful articles. It is in encouraging 
circumstances. In the evening I conversed with some of the breth- 
ren on forming a missionary society for the foreign mission. It is 
thought this is practicable. My mind still is peculiarly happy in 
Divine things. Oh, my blessed Saviour ! all this I receive for thy 
name's sake. 

13^^. Spent the morning in further conversation on missions. At 
ten o'clock the Madison Association met, and Elder Lathrop, from. 
Warwick, preached from Ezekiel x. Many interesting ideas were 
communicated, but his discourse in general was confused, and his 
manner disagreeable. Not in general liked by the brethren. In the 
afternoon the churches made their returns. Religion generally is 
flourishing. Some churches complain of coldness, but many are 
quite encouraged, and made returns of considerable additions. 
Five churches joined the association this session. It is already a 
large body, and embraces a number of Nourishing and respectable, 
churches. The ministers are mostly valuable men, sound in doctrine 
and much engaged to advance the cause of Christ. The churches in 
this western country are generally liberal to their ministers, afford- 
ing them a comfortable support. This is usually done by an average 
according to ability. The justness and propriety of this method is 
very apparent. Before the day closed, I presented the letter from 
Mr. Rice, which I read. The association in a very spirited manner 
took up the subject and appointed a committee to confer with me 
on the question, and also requested me to preach a missionary ser- 
mon on the morrow. At evening the committee conversed on the 
subject, and agreed to form an auxiliary society. I drafted a report 
and prepared a constitution to be presented to the association. 
The spirit of missions greatly prevails in this quarter. It docs not 
appear to be a hasty passion, but a settled conviction of judgment, 
and a principle of duty. 

14:fh. How greatly I am favored ! I share every comfort. What 
a checkered scene is human life ! But a few weeks since I was re- 
pining at my lot. Then my mind was filled with constant embar- 
rassment. Now I share and rejoice in the light of life. 

Presented the report of the Committee on Foreign Missions to 
the association, which was readily approved. Some remarks were 
then made. An address was read by Elder Lawton. The spirit of 
missions seemed to kindle, and glow, and flame through the congre- 
gation. Public worship commenced at ten o'clock. I preached 
from Ezekiel xxxvii. 3 — enjoyed pecuUar freedom. Should I attempt 



MISSION AGENCY — ITS RESULTS. 43 

to describe the effect on the congregation I could not do it justice. 
The solemn attention, the trickling tear, the sob and groan disclosed 
that the tenderest feelings of the heart were touched. It appears 
that we can hardly be enthusiastic on the subject of missions. 
Here i^ full scope for the most benevolent and feeling heart to ex- 
ercise itself. It ill becomes me to say any thing respecting my own 
performance. This, however, I can freely say, if I am not grossly 
deceived, that to God — only wise — all the praise is due. A col- 
lection for the benefit of the mission was taken amounting to eighty 
five dollars, which was increased before the close of the session to 
one hundred and three dollars, paid into thOv treasury in one day. 
When I reflect that but a few years since all this country was» 
one vast wilderness — properly missionary ground — I must exclaim : 
What hath God wrought ! 

This is a specimen of nearly fifty pages of the character- 
istic journal of Brother Peck, which furnishes the true key 
to his future movements. The three weeks of his experience, 
as here developed, shows that his heart was fired with mis- 
sionary zeal ; and that perhaps unconsciously to himself he 
was beginning to loathe the kind of mixed employment — ' 
partly secular and partly sacred — in which his public life had 
hitherto been passed. Not unlikely, too, the hindrances he 
had unexpectedly experienced in the work of the Lord in the 
church at Amenia, their dilatoriness in furnishing him the 
stipulated support, and the pertinacity with which some of 
the members insisted on pushing their disciplinary action to- 
wards a brother or two, who had fallen into disfavor, and 
whose wrong-doing the pastor thought some of the brethren 
inclined unduly to magnify, so as to turn off the regards of 
the community from what he reckoned as now more import- 
ant — all conspired to move him to the result which appeared 
rapidly approaching. The letters which passed between him- 
self and Mr. Kice, as well as his report to Dr. Staughton as 
Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Missions, all tended 
to the same result. 

On his return from this tour, in which he rode four hundred 
and forty miles, preached nineteen times, and took five mis- 
sionary collections, he entered with characteristic ardor on the 



46 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

performance of his duties both in Amonia and Hudson (to 
the church in the Letter city he seems to have preached regu- 
larly for several months a portion of the time) ; but the cause 
did not prosper. Early in October he attended the Hartford 
Association, rneeting that year in North Colebrook, Ct., and 
enjoyed the services very greatly, as a revival was then pro- 
gressing there ; and his favorite missionary object continued 
to increase in the interest awakened in its behalf. Early the 
following month, he commenced teaching a school in Amenia, 
led to it as he says by the necessitous circumstances of his 
little family, and in hope of being of some benefit to the youth 
placed under his charge. The same week he sent in a letter 
to the Amenia church, giving notice of the discontinuance of 
his pastorship at the termination of the year. -- 

Various ecclesiastical duties and engagements led him 
away from his school for a day or two at a time, for successive 
weeks, to Poughkeepsie, to Hudson, and elsewhere. And the 
double duties he was now attempting were unfavorable to his 
health and his religious enjoyment. Of this his journal takes 
frequent and sad notice. JSTotwithstanding, he appears to have 
borne up under these discouragements in a manful and vigor- 
ous manner. Twice a month he lectured before his school, and 
probably a few others, on topics sacred and historical — en- 
deavoring to arouse them to a livelier interest in mental as 
well as religious exercises. 

December 8th he mentions that w^ithin one week he had 
married three couples and received for it sixteen dollars, of 
which he was in pressing want, and could therefore regard 
this in no other light than as a special providence, for which 
he would render a tribute of praise to his ever bountiful 
Provider. 

Before the close of this year, he aided in the ordination of 
Rev. J. G. Ogilvie in Hudson, to whom he gave the charge, 
the first time he had ever attempted this service. It seems to 
have been much blessed to his own soul, awakening a very 
solemn sense of his responsibility in watching for souls. Re- 
turning from this ordination, he perused by the way the me- 



spencer's memoir — J. E. WELCH. 4t 

moir of Thomas Spencer, and found his soul more and more 
kindled to holy emulation of his brief but distinguished career. 
While riding along the road he frequently lifted his heart in 
prayer to God, and felt assured of a gracious answer — com- 
paring his own feelings on this occasion to those of President 
Edwards, which the latter describes as an inward sweetness, 
or ravishing desire of soul, taking the greatest satisfaction in 
the adorable presence of God, " I thought" — says Mr. Peck 
— '' I could be happy in any situation of life, even the most 
trying. I felt not only willing, but ardently desirous to be 
wholly devoted to the cause of Christ." 

Friday evening, December 15th, occurs the first mention made 
of the name of a dear brother, with whom he was to be most 
interestingly associated for more than forty years in kindred 
labors and trials for the promotion of Christ's kingdom. The 
minute in his journal is in the following words: ''I wrote 
a letter on missionary business to a minister by the name of 
James E. Welch, he having written to me first. It is pleasing 
to hold correspondence with any of the friends of Jesus, espe- 
cially with such as devote themselves for life to the missionary 
cause." 

Towards the close of the year, he remarks that '' Teach- 
ing a large school, and then preaching in the evening, is 
quite fatiguing to this frail tenement of clay;" and his re- 
ligious enjoyments and depressions seem to have alternated 
frequently in this period of his history. How could it be 
otherwise ? The bow constantly bent must lose its elastic, 
recuperative force. The chief marvel is that either mind or 
heart could retain a healthful vigor when so constantly taxed 
bej^ond their power of endurance. At the end of the year 
1815, he notices that he had preached the past year one 
hundred and thirty-five times. 



48> MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Removal and Student Life. 

The opening year, 1816, witnessed several events of most 
important influence upon his future history which may be 
appropriately noticed here. January 5th he mentions having 
written to Dr. Staughton with a view of obtaining some assist- 
ance from the Education Society. In that letter he says : 

For more than two years past I have had my mind frequently 
exercised about the situation, of the perishing heathen, and have 
ardently longed to be the humble instrument of imparting to some 
of them the word of life. My situation in life, and the want of 
requisite qualifications have precluded the hope of ever entering 
that field until a few months past. The difficulties in the way do 
not seem quite insurmountable, since I have had opportunity of 
becoming more attached to the missionary interest and learning 
the wants of the poor heathen. By communications from Brother 
Rice I learn that it is in contemplation to establish a mission in the 
Missouri Territory. On this subject I found in my own mind such 
a correspondence of feeling and sentiment that I could not forbear 
opening my mind to him. Ever since I have thought upon the 
subject of missions, I have had my eye upon the people west of the 
Mississippi, particularly the Indian nations, and have often won- 
dered why no attempts were made to send the gospel to them. I 
have often thought that if it was my lot to labor among the heathen, 
the Louisiana-purchase, of all parts of the world, would be my choice. 
Since receiving the last communication from Brother Rice, I have 
had serious thoughts of making a tender of myself to the Board 
of Foreign Missions. As I am in great want of sufficient literary 
acquirements, I have thought of spending a few months the ensuing 
summer in Philadelphia could I obtain some assistance in board and 
tuition from the Education Society. This would be, however, for 
the exclusive purpose of qualifying myself to engage in the cause 
of missions in some part of the heathen world. . . . As I earnestly 
wish your friendly advice in what I have proposed, it may be proper 



LETTER OF LUTHER RICE. 49 

to inform you of my circumstances a little more particularly. 1 am 
twenty-six years of age, and have a family consisting of a wife and 
three children. I began to preach in 1811, and was ordained in June, 
1813. The opportunity I have had for an education has been quite 
small. I have made some advance in the several branches of an 
English education, and have paid some little attention to the Greek 
and Latin languages, but without the help of an instructor, excep': 
a few weeks which I spent with Mr. Barnes, late of Poughkeepsie. 
I am not able to translate much of the Greek Testament without 
the help of a lexicon. 

This last letter from Brother Rice alluded to in the above 
communication, and which Mr. Peck mentions in his diary, as 
fixing his future destiny, is too important and characteristic 
to be omitted or curtailed. The allusion to other things than 
those immediately relevant to Mr. Peck's case are too interest- 
ing, for other reasons connected with the history of that periodj 
to be omitted. The letter is given entire. 

South Fork of Lick Creek, Knox Co., 

Indiana Territory, 

November 30th, 1815. 
To THE Eev. John M. Peck. 

Fery Dear Brother: — Your very kind and highly interesting 
letter, of October 12th, came duly to hand, and I intended to answer 
it shortly, but have not found time till now. Brother James E. 
Welch- was with me when I received it, and at my request he wrote 
to you immediately. He thinks of undertaking a mission to the 
West, should it be thought advisable. Possibly you maybe fellow- 
laborers in this great field. Your success at the several associations 
you visited — viz. : the Franklin in June, the Otsego and Madison in 
September, and the Hartford in October — gives me very great sat- 
isfaction indeed. In your next, I will thank you to furnish me with 
the address of some principal minister, or private member, belong- 
ing to the Madison Association, to whom a parcel of the next An- 
nual Report may be forwarded. Also furnish me with the address 
of the President and of the Corresponding Secretary of the " Madi- 
son Society Auxiliary," etc., and the date of the formation of said 
mission society ; and send me, if you can, a copy of their constitu- 
tion. In answer to your inquiries : 

] St. Is it contemplated to form a permanent mission-station in 
the West ? Yes ; certainly. 



60 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

2d. Would it be best to have schools connected with the mission ? 

Yes. 

3d. Any particular place in view for the seat of the mission ? 
St. Louis, probably. 

4th. What literary attainments would be indispensable ? A good 
English education, to say the least, so as to be able to conduct a 
school to advantage. In addition it would be very desirable to pos- 
sess an acquaintance with the Latin and Greek, if not the Hebrew ; 
and indeed it would be desirable that the missionary should be a 
graduate of some college, though this should not be considered 
indispensable. A thorough acquaintance with grammar, rhetoric, 
geography, and history, are of very great importance. 

5th. Would it be thought necessary for some person to accom- 
pany you in this Western tour ? Should some suitable person find 
his heart moved to offer himself to the service of the Board, as a 
missionary to the West/o?' life, it might be very proper for him to 
travel with me some time in the country for the purpose of ascer- 
taining the best position for the seat and commencement of his 
missionary labors. I thank you for the freedom with which you 
have described your views and impressions relative to personally 
engaging in the missionary service. It gives me great satisfaction, 
too, that your views are so much inclined to the West. Not only 
do I conceive it to be proper that a mission should be established 
in the West on account of the importance of this region in itself, 
but indispensably necessary to satisfy the wishes and expectations 
of pious people in all parts of the United States. So that by no 
means could I think it best for you to abstain from these reflections ; 
much less that you ought to give them up as vain and hopeless. 

From these observations you wiU receive the idea that I think it 
not improper to encourage you in the consideration of undertaking 
a Western mission. This is done by me on the ground that you 
possess an education amply suflQcient to enable you to conduct an 
English school to advantage, as well as from the very pleasing im- 
pression, relative to your talents, piety, industry, and zeal, left on 
my mind by my short acquaintance with you last spring. You 
have at least shown ycmr self faithful over a few things, and I cannot 
but cherish the hope that the Head of the Church designs in his 
providence and grace to make you ruler over many things. 

You mention a brother, Zalmon Tobey in Williams College j who 
thinks of directing his attention to the Western Indians. I hope 
this is of the Lord. No information could have imparted to me 
more sincere pleasure. Who knows but you and he may labor to- 



SCHOOL AND PREACHINQ LABORS. 51 

gether ? Consult him upon the suhject, and let me hear about the 
matter. I beg you will request him to write to me, and to direct 
his letter to Nashville, Tenn,, provided it be written in season to 
arrive there by the 1st of February ; if not, direct to Augusta, Ga. 
Direct your own in the same manner. Since my letter to Brother 
Cushman, to which you allude, I have been present at the formation 
of four new auxiliary mission societies in Kentucky. In that State 
I have received more than eleven hundred dollars. In Lexington, 
the contribution after a missionary sermon was two hundred and 
forty dollars — the largest I have received on any one occasion. I 
expect to spend all the winter and part of the spring in ranging 
the Western and Southern States ; shall probably not reach Phila- 
delphia earlier than April — perhaps not till the 1st of May ; fear I 
shall not be able to visit New England again in all next year, as 
there is much, very much to do yet in the Middle, Southern, and 
Western States, besides my contemplated tour into the Missouri 
country. 

I beg you will write me as soon as convenient, and let me know 
if you would hke to engage in the contemplated Western mission 
for Hfe, and whether you would like the business of teaching a 
school ; and whether you would be willing to offer to the Board 
next spring, and would be ready to set out next season distinctly to 
engage in the mission itself. It would afford me great satisfaction 
to see you in Philadelphia next spring ; and I believe you might be 
highly useful in this Western country, whether as a missionary or 
otherwise. 

Best regards to your dear lady, and believe me most sincerely and 
affectionately yours, 

Luther Kice. 

While Mr. Peck was waiting for a fall decision of the mo- 
mentous questions now before him, his school was continued, 
and he preached in Amenia, in Sharon, in Ellsworth parish, 
where was an interesting boarding-school, in which a precious 
revival was then progressing ; and by request of pious Pedo- 
biaptist conductors he visited and preached repeatedly to stu- 
dents and others with happy effect. He also visited Hudson 
and Catskill near the close of January, and enjoj^ed much 
freedom in preaching and visiting among his old friends. On 
leaving Catskill to return to Amenia, he commenced reading 
the life of David Brainard, which he had just purchased. His 



63 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

mission labors and success among the Indians seem to have 
fired his soul with fresh ardor. These impassioned utterances 
occur in this connection : 

Oh, what would I not willingly do or suffer if I could live as de- 
voted as this eminent servant of God! His singular piety and 
devotedness to the cause of Christ affected me so much that fre- 
quently I shut up the book and indulged myself in meditation and 
prayer. I felt an inward longing or panting of soul after more de- 
votion. I had very clear views of my exceeding sinfulness and 
depravity. But notwithstanding, I felt that with the presence of a 
holy God I could be happy anywhere. I felt not merely to submit 
to the hardships of a missionary hfe, but I ardently longed to enter 
the field. Frequently did I hft up my soul in prayer to God ; and 
toward the latter part of my ride my soul was much drawn out for 
the youth in my society, particularly those in my school. I felt as 
though I could wrestle with God in their behalf Oh, that these 
desires and impressions might be lasting ! 

Some weeks later, when going again to Hudson to preach, 
he thus writes in his diary : 

I am so much taken up in my school through the week that I can 
hardly find time for religious meditation. Oh, how dreadful is the 
thought of separation from God ! Stopped at an inn to feed my 
horse, where there was a lewd, drunken, wicked set. It pained my 
soul to be in such company. I felt a degree of joy that I was not 
always to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

March 1st, he notices having just received letters from Brother 
Welch and Dr. Staughton. From the first he learnt some 
particulars of interest about the Missouri Territory ; and from 
the last a favorable prospect of entering the theological school 
in Philadelphia next summer. The Doctor recommended him 
to apply to an education society in ISTew York city where he 
would no doubt obtain the needed assistance. In the letter, 
the first of along and interesting series, official and otherwise, 
which the writer addressed to his subsequent pupil, Dr. 
Staughton says : 



LETTERS OF GALUSHA AND JOHN PECK. 5^ 

I am happy to find your mind impelled to devote your days to 
the honorable and laborious service of a missionary of Jesus. I 
trust the Lord in his providence will open before you a sphere of 
useful action, and assist you to fill it to the honor of his blessed 
name. I do not conceive that any difficulty will attend your in- 
troduction into the Education Society for a few months, or a longer 
time should it be found desirable. 

He then points out the method for him to proceed in secur- 
ing the assistance desired ; gives the last information received 
from Brother Rice, indicating the vigor and success with which 
he was prosecuting his laborious agency ; then mentions the 
sailing of the missionaries Hough and wife, with Mrs. White, 
and closes in a most fraternal manner. 

Mr. Peck's visit to the several associations in the summer 
and fall brought him into correspondence with several distin- 
guished brethren in those bodies. Koom can only be found 
here for extracts from the letters of two of them — Rev. Elon 
Galusha and Rev. John Peck. The former, under date of 
Whitesborough, lYth January, 1816, says : 

I was highly gratified to learn your great success in the mis- 
sionary cause, and the information with which you favored me 
from Brother Eice was very grateful. Wonderful indeed are the 
mercies of God. How transporting to contemplate the latter-day 
glory, to which the pleasure of the Lord, now prospering with our 
missionary brethren, is doubtless a prelude. Oh, that men would 
praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the 
children of men ! Nothing special has occurred in the place of my 
late residence, since I saw you, except the establishment of the 
*' Shaftsbury-and-vicinity Missionary Society," of which my father 
is President, and Elder Mattison Corresponding Secretary. In sub- 
scription by members of said society I obtained more than one 
hundred dollars. The missionary cause also flourishes here. The 
Female Mite Society, established by your request, now consists of 
seventy members, twenty-three of whom pay annually one dollar 
each, the others half this sum. Five or six dollars have also been 
added as donations, amounting in all to between fifty and sixty 
dollars already, and the year not half expired. 

Oh, dear brother, pray for me that I maybe more engaged in the 



54 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

glorious cause of our precious Redeemer. May the pleasure of the 
Lord prosper with you, and his special blessing rest upon you. 
Your cordial friend and unworthy brother in gospel bonds, 

Elon Galusha. 

Father' Peck, as he has long been called, wrote as follows : 

CitzENOviA, May 2Uh, 1816. 
Dear Brother : — It is with pleasure that I learn your resolution 
to devote yourself to the service of God in the missionary cause. 
You inform me that you are on your way to Philadelphia to spend 
some time in the theological seminary preparatory to your en- 
gaging in the blessed cause of preaching the gospel in the regions of 
superstition and idolatry. I rejoice that you find the means of ac- 
complishing your desires. And I pray God that he may continue 
his blessing to you, and grant success to all your endeavors for his 
glory. I will take the liberty to inform you that the Lord has gra- 
ciously been pleased to visit us with an outpouring of his Spirit : 
sixty-five have been added to this church since July last. In the 
town of Eaton, where the Madison Association was held which you 
attended, free grace is now gloriously triumphing. Within a month 
past, on two Sabbaths, thirty-eight were immersed in the name of 
the Holy Trinity. In Homer, where Elder Bennett is pastor, Zion's 
glorious King is exhibiting his matchless power. Last Sabbath, 
twenty-four were added to that church. In Pompey the Lord 
reigns : twenty-four have been added to the church in that town. 
In Sherburn and Sangersfield God is doing wonders. According, to 
your request I send a copy of our last minutes, also a copy of the 
sixth and seventh numbers of "The Vehicle." I request you 
to take an interest in the promotion of this Avork. And if you 
could continue your correspondence with me, I should esteem it a 
great pleasure ; and I desire you to send me any intelligence or 
other communication suitable for the magazine. I consider your 
situation favorable for this purpose, and all communications will be 
thankfully received. I know of no person in the Cayuga Associa- 
tion more suitable to be intrusted with missionary reports and other 
communications than Deacon Squire Munro, of Gamillus, who is 
now President of the Auxiliary Foreign Missionary Society. I feel 
to congratulate ypu on the glorious triumph of our adorable Sove- 
reign. Almost every breeze wafts to our ears some pleasing intel- 
ligence of the increase of Christ's kingdom. Go on, victorious 
King, nor stay thy hand until all thy enemies are sut;)dued, and the 



NEW YORK CITY AND PHILADELPHIA. 65 

whole earth is filled with thy glory. This is the sincere prayer of, 

dear brother, your sincere friend, 

John Peck. 

Brother Lawton presents his respects, and desires to be remem- 
bered by you. 

Peck and Lawton, Bennett and Kendrick, Hascall and 
Galusha, are names not likely ever to fade from Baptist recol- 
lection in Central New York ; and to all of them the subject 
of this memoir had linked himself for a life-long affection by 
his brief visit to them the preceding autumn. 

At the end of March he closed his school, to which he had 
become much attached, and it was hard parting. So he found 
it in taking leave of the churches in Catskill, in Hudson and 
Amenia, in all of which he left many loving friends. This and 
the business cares of settling up his accounts, and providing for 
his family's comfort through the summer, and especially taking 
leave of them for so long a period — all tended to depress and 
almost sadden him. Near the end of April he left them, and 
stopped in Pougiikeepsie ; he afterward spent five days in 
New York, where he preached in the principal Baptist churches, 
and received the marked attention of ministers, deacons, and 
influential brethren and their families. On some kind and 
generous notices of his preaching which came to his knowl- 
edge, he expresses in his journal the fear that he was in 
danger of becoming popular. For Elders Parkinson in Gold 
street, Williams in Fayette (now Oliver) street, and^ Maclay in 
Mulberry street, he preached more than once each, thus filling 
up his time and wearying him almost beyond his power of 
endurance. Then on the 1st of May he set forth at seven 
o'clock in the morning — and in a steamer tool— for Phila- 
delphia, reaching as far as Trenton before midnight. Here 
he stayed over, and reached Philadelphia by another steamer, 
down the Delaware (which much delighted him by its earlier 
vernal beauty than he had left behind him), before noon the 
second day. He found Dr. Staughton's residence, and was 
introduced to him and his laifHv and his three fellow-students, 



56 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

Farnsworth, Wilson, and Meredith. Somers having just left 
for a settlement in Troy, and Welch not having arrived. 

His residence in the city of brotherly love — boarding in the 
family of Dr. Staughton with his fellow-students, and mingling 
freely with all the Baptist and other ministers who were then 
accustomed to be the frequent guests of his renowned pre- 
ceptor, and who often preached in his pulpit as well as ate at 
his table — gave to this young man opportunities of improve- 
ment to which he had never been accustomed, and not un- 
likely were of quite as much' benefit to him, by their direct 
and indirect influence, as the opportunities of study which he 
enjoyed. He entered soon on the vigorous study of Latin, 
and obtained a little knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, besides 
reviving and enlarging his acquaintance with the Greek of the 
New Testament. He also listened to the instructive lectures 
of Dr. Staughton on botany and other branches of natural 
science. He wrote essays and other compositions and sermons, 
and submitted them for criticism to his fellow-students and 
their teacher. Occasionally, too, he preached even in the 
great Sansom-street church edifice, which was then his especial 
admiration for its magnitude and unique construction. Gladly 
would we transfer to these pages his first admiring im- 
pressions of the house, the audience (which by a popular ex- 
aggeration, then as now by no means uncommon, he greatly 
over-estimated) rated at four thousand hearers seated, besides 
multitudes standing in the aisles and about the lobbies and 
doors of tlje edifice. It was then a time of revival in this 
church. The first Sabbath he spent there, he saw eleven bap- 
tized in the spacious font in the centre of that great theatre, 
which for that purpose especially he greatly admired. The 
next month fourteen were received by the same church. 

No feature of the novelties now rushing on bis attention 
seems to have more interested him than the Sabbath-schools, 
then very recently introduced. That in the Sansom-street 
church, where he soon became a teacher, embraced some four 
hundred pupils ; held two sessions each Sabbath, which were 
begun with reading the Scriptures, accompanied often with 



SUNDAY-SCHOOLS — PREACHING — SELF-IMPROVEMENT. 57 

brief familiar expositions, with exhortation and prayer, at the 
end of which all the children repeated in concert the Lord's 
prayer, Then they divided off into classes of fifteen or twenty 
each, having two teachers to every class, and pursued for an 
hour the method, thought best for imbuing the young minds 
with religious knowledge. They were closed with some gen- 
eral remarks, or exercises, of review, and with one or more 
appropriate hymns, in which all these young voices, as far as 
possible, were taught to unite. The deep interest which he 
soon came to take in these schools, his visits among the poor, 
the sick, the ignorant, to whom his connection with the chil- 
dren of his class introduced him, were all happily conducive 
to that eminent fitness which he early attained for performing 
an immense amount of successful and blessed labor of this 
kind in the West. 

As he had been for years an ordained minister, and as his 
services were needed and welcomed in a somewhat wide circle 
in and around Philadelphia, he found not a little interruption 
to the regular course of his studies by such calls and diver- 
sions. At times he regretted this ; but so much stronger 
was his love for evangelizing labors of all kinds than for 
mere book-learning, and so facile had the habits already 
required rendered the performance of these semi-pastoral 
or missionary labors that he very readily yielded himself 
to nearl)^ every solicitation of this character; and almost 
every Sabbath, and not unfrequently considerable part of 
the week besides, he was exercising himself actively as a 
minister of Christ. Nor was this by any means a total loss. 
For by the various intercourse thus secured with all classes, 
he became a successful and rapid learner in the great field of 
the knowledge of mankind. 

Considering his own want of early scholastic advantages, 
it is interesting to notice the method he employed for supplying 
these deficiencies and overcoming the bad habits into which he 
had almost necessarily fallen. A letter of advice which he 
about this time wrote to a dear young friend whose early years 
had been passed somewhat as his own, but who had the pros- 



68 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

pect now opening of becoming a public character, and needed 
therefore to be improved in many respects in intellectual fur- 
niture and acquirements, develops, I doubt not, somewhat mi- 
nutely some of the methods which he had found it necessary 
to pursue in order to correct bad habits and elevate himself 
to a worthier level of intellectual attainments. A few sen- 
tences of that letter will indicate its general character : 

I am pleased with your improvement in writing, and hope. you will 
not be discouraged by any difficulties that may present. If you 
intend to be a missionary, you must acquire the habit of pressing 
through many difficulties to obtain important qualifications. I most 
earnestly intreat you to spend at least half your time in reading 
and writing. To facilitate your writing, it may be best for you to 
make a little book and keep a diary of what is passing. But while 
37^ou are attending to writing, it is also indispensably necessary that 
you should attend to spelling. I do not say it to criticise, nor must 
you let it hurt your feelings, but your spelling is very bad. In 
order to correct this, whenever you write, it is best you should have 
a small dictionary lie before you, and look out every word whose 
spelling you are not sure you know. You can easily find any word 
in the dictionary by its alphabetical arrangement. You had fetter 
also study the spelling-book, and regularly teach some child a lesson 
in it every day, thus helping to fix what you learn more firmly in 
your memory. 

Then follow some directions for learning grammar without 
much aid from teacher or books, of which a specimen in 
orthography may suffice : 

In writing, you must begin every sentence after a period with a 
capital letter. Also the name of any person or place. So when 
you have the letter i or o by itself, you must use capital letters. 

Then follow a number of corrections of this friend's bad 
spelling, or faulty use or neglect of capital letters. Thus 
anxious did he show himself that others should be early im- 
bued with the spirit of intellectual improvement, and should 
be shown some of the first steps of the ladder, for which he 
had been obliged to feel his way in the dark. 



ESTIMATE OF PREACHERS AND COUNSELORS. 59 

The presence of Mr. Rice in Philadelphia somer part of the 
time while he was engaged in study, helped to keep his heart 
still warmly alive to missionary duties. At his instance, 
Mr. Peck was often sent forth to visit churches, associations, 
and missionary societies at their anniversaries, to fan the flame 
of holy zeal for the evangelization of the heathen. One of 
the earliest of these tours took him into Delaware to attend ' 
the Delaware Baptist Association. He describes its exercises, 
preachers, subjects, etc., and indicates pretty clearly the blight- 
ing influence of some of those hyper-calvinistic views among 
them, which eventually dwarfed to nothingness most of those 
churches. In these and like visits, and in the extensive facili- 
ties he had for associating with the ministers of that day, he 
came to know somewhat intimately a large portion of those 
who figured most conspicuously in that early period of our 
annals. To some of these he only briefly alludes, scarcely 
more than mentioning their names ; others he very briefly 
characterizes, with a free and generous frankness, ever more 
ready to record their excellencies than to dwell on their defects. 
Others again he portrays more fully and minutely. Dr. 
Staughton and S. H. Cone — then a young man, and a still 
younger preacher, having left the stage and political life to 
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ — were his favorites 
as pulpit orators. He draws a life-like picture of their man- 
ners in the pulpit, and the effects which attended their most 
powerful and successful public appeals. A sermon of the 
latter, when on a visit to Philadelphia seeking some aid for 
the little church in Alexandria, to which he had just begun 
to minister, brought forth a collection of nearly two hundred 
dollars — a large sum for that day. " The greatest pulpit 
orator of his age 1 have ever heard, but appears humble and 
discovers no disposition to gain the applause of the people. 
His address most pleasing," etc. 

Kevs. John Williams of N'ew York, Luther Rice, Daniel 
Sharp, of Boston, and H. G. Jones, of Roxborough, were his 
chosen counselors. The varied biblical learning of Dr. Staugh- 
ton and Irah Chase, recently from Andover Seminary, he highly 



60 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

• 

esteemed ; while with all his fellow-students above-named, as 
well as Welch, Murphy, H. Malcom, Ashton and Walker who 
joined them subsequently, he maintained a most fraternal 
union. 

Near the close of July their studies were intermitted for a 
vacation of five or six weeks, most of which he spent in aiding 
his dear Brother Rice in getting out and distributing the 
annual missionary report of the Board ; and then in a kind 
of volunteer missionary tour in lower New Jersey, where he 
enjoyed very much the hospitality of Rev. Mr. Sheppard, of 
Salem, and some others. He preached abundantly in the 
counties of Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May, not only in 
the Baptist churches, but in destitute neighborhoods, and 
wherever the providence of God opened a door before him. 
He seems to have enjoyed this tour very much, and also to 
have been eminently w^elcome and useful. Wherever prac- 
ticable he was, both privately and publicly, promoting the 
foreign mission spirit and effort. 

Just about this time also, both his journals and letters in- 
dicate that he was much exercised in mind in regard to the 
path of his personal duty. The Foreign Mission Board, at 
their annual meeting in 'New York, had distussed but not 
decided the question of establishing a mission in the Missouri 
Territory. While all admitted the great desirableness of this 
step, the more considerate and cautious brethren deemed it 
the prerogative of the Convention (which would meet the 
next year), and not of the Board, to decide a question of so 
much magnitude. This conclusion necessarily deferred any 
definite action on the case of Messrs. Peck and Welch, who 
were quite willing at that time to have ofiTered themselves to 
the Board for this Western mission. What should he do 
therefore ? Dr. Staughton and Mr. Rice advised that he 
should pursue his studies in Philadelphia until the next spring 
or summer. Dr. Sharp, with whom he then for the first time 
appears to have taken counsel, suggested his temporary em- 
ployment by the Massachusetts Missionary Society, to travel 
and preach under their auspices in central and western New 



REVISITING FIELDS OF EARLY LABOR — REVIVAL. 61 

York, and perhaps extend his labors to Ohio. Another plan 
was for him to teach school again for the winter in Amenia, 
which would have brought him into close proximity to his 
dear family, from whom this long separation was most un- 
welcome. Air agreed, it seems, that for the ultimate benefit 
of his proposed devotement to the mission in the great West 
the first of these plans was the most desirable, provided he 
could secure the comfortable support meanwhile of his little 
family. Generous friends, chiefly in Philadelphia and Xew 
York city, made up a purse for this object ; and thus his 
way was cleared of impediments, and his heart leaped with 
joy at thought of spending the winter in the very place of all 
others most adapted to secure his personal improvement. 
Somewhat more extensive plans of study were therefore 
marked out for him and his destined associate, Welch, on 
which he prepared to enter with vigor. Preliminary to this, 
he spent a few weeks in a visit to his family. The joy of 
returning to their embrace after an absence of five months or 
more was great indeed. What added very much to his sacred 
delight was the revival now progressing in Amenia, in which 
many of his old friends and a remarkable proportion of the 
dear pupils of his late school *had personally shared. With 
what holy joy he now returned to see the valley of dry bones, 
which he had left so lifeless, quickened to blessed vitality ; 
with what religious fervor he preached, and prayed, and vis- 
ited from house to house, is recorded in his journals and 
letters of this period, and is still cherished in the grateful 
recollections of some who then witnessed his joy and shared 
his labors. In this visit he found it practicable to attend the 
anniversaries of the Hartford and the Rensselaerville Associ- 
ations, with both of which as a pastor he had been pleasantly 
connected. In both of these bodies he watched with interest, 
and in the latter especially he helped to promote and deepen 
the missionary zeal of his late associates. With his family he 
also visited Hudson, Catskill, and Durham, where troops of 
old friends gathered around them with glowing affection. 
Kev. Dr. Porter, of Catskill, opened his church to him, and he 
6 



62 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

there preached in behalf of his favorite theme — missions — • 
with decided success. So he did also in Amenia, where he 
not only took up a collection twice as large as usual, but also 
formed a juvenile missionary society of nearly forty members, 
a majority of them his former pupils. To his father's house 
in Litchfield, Ct., he also made a brief visit, and records his 
thankfulness that his old Congregational brethren no longer 
exhibited coldness to him on account of his change of eccle- 
siastical relations, but loved him as of yore. 

Passing through New York city, both going and returning, 
on this visit to his family, he spent several days, and as usual 
preached to several of the churches with increased acceptance. 
On reaching Philadelphia again (November 8), he found that 
he had traveled by land and water eight hundred and twelve 
miles, had preached twenty-seven times, seven of which were 
for missionary collections. Just about this time also, he 
received from the indefatigable Rice a characteristic letter. 
It should be remembered that he had left Philadelphia in 
July, putting into the hands of Mr, Peck the work of sending 
off the last half of the annual reports for that year. The 
Napoleon-like movements of Mr. Kice — over the mountains, 
crossing and recrossing State lines, through Virginia, North 
Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with a celerity which 
nothing but the boldest zeal, and the most indomitable perse- 
verance could have planned or executed — were well adapted 
to kindle a similar spirit in those with whom he came in 
closest contact ; and they did not fail of this result on him to 
whom these hurried lines were addressed. To this letter 
Mr. Peck promptly replied, giving to his honored friend all 
the recent missionary intelligence. Thus imparting and re- 
ceiving impulse in the chosen work to which his life was 
devoted, he was the better prepared to enter again upon his 
course of studies. The following plan he sketched for his 
daily guidance through the winter ; and he adhered to it when 
unavoidable interruptions did not turn him aside. 

Rise in the morning at six o'clock. Engage in private prayer, 
which I can well do, as my fellow-students will not have risen at 



DIVISION OF TIME, STUDIES, AND LABORS. 63 

that hour. Then spend one hour in studying the sacred Scriptures, 
with the assistance of Henry, Gill, Scott, or some other judicious 
expositor. Commence and continue regular study till breakfast, 
reviewing the Greek grammar first. After breakfast pursue regular 
studies of the day, except the hours given to medical lectures. 
After dinner come the recitations, after which miscellaneous read- 
ing and writing till tea-time. The evenings — except two each week 
given to lectures on osteology — to be devoted to studying the 
classics, to writing, copying, etc., except some times an hour or 
two given to attending pubUc worship. Then give the closing hour, 
till half-past ten, to such study of the Scriptures, as occupies the 
first hour of the morning. Eegular daily studies were : Monday 
and Wednesday, Hebrew and Latin ; Tuesday and Thursday, Greek ; 
Friday, natural philosophj^, use of the globes, astronomy, etc. ; Sat- 
urday, composition of sermons, lectures on theology, and system- 
atic reading. 

He also resolved to be economical of time, frugal in expense, 
temperate in diet, not over indulgent in sleep, nor to allow 
himself in idle, unprofitable talk, and sacredly to keep up 
secret communion with God. 

Dr. Staughton, conceiving that his pupils, Welch and Peck, 
would be greatly benefited in their vocation as missionaries, 
by such improvement as a course of medical lectures would 
furnish, procured toem tickets from the principal professors 
in the medical college ; and they gladly availed themselves 
of this additional means of generous culture. It may readily 
be understood that with such an amount of demand on them, 
taking full notes as they did of the lectures they listened to, 
their time would be literally crowded with engagements. Yet 
Mr. Peck preached on an average about three times a week 
the whole winter, visited the prisons, conversed with and 
preached to the prisoners, and made himself very useful among 
the poor and ignorant of that city. It is no marvel that under 
this system of overtasking, both body and mind began soon 
to falter ; and many are the mournful intimations spread on 
the pages of his private journal of the nature and amount of 
his sufferings — physical, mental, and religious. Not yet had 
he so fully learned, as he did subsequently, how certainly the 



64 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

overdone frame and the mind strained beyond its healthful 
tension are sure to spread over the whole soul the tinge of 
depression, or the fitfulness of unwholesome exhilaration, 
which, as it cannot be sustained, will alternate with stupidity 
and gloom. Affecting are the jottings down on successive 
Sabbath mornings of his " stupidity, deadness, want of en- 
gagedness in the cause of Christ," when he should have had 
time for repose, but was obliged, as he and others thought, to 
preach repeatedly. Can we wonder that he complains of a 
heart so little attuned to the services on which he was re- 
quired to enter ? They who give to mind or body no rest, 
when both by the great Sabbath law are allowed it, must 
expect to receive in their own abused nature the due pun- 
ishment of the violation of these wholesome ordinances. 

To add to his embarrassments the health of one of his 
children failed, his family needed comforts which he was 
unable to supply them, the aid which had been proffered him 
for their support partially failed, and the remainder came but 
tardily, so that his mind for February and March was' con- 
tinually harassed with almost agonizing apprehensions in 
regard to the welfare of those most dear to him. His letters 
to his family, and especially his diary from day to day, bore 
conclusive and sad evidence of what he in fhis respect suffered. 
At length, with 'the advice and consent of his kind preceptor, 
Dr. Staughton, he made a little tour among the churches in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia, where his gratuitous labors had 
been so largely given, aided by his fellow-students, Welch and 
Meredith. At the home of the latter he addressed a cheerful 
epistle to his wife ; and making known to the pastors and some 
of the principal brethren, delicately as possible, his straitened 
circumstances, they made up in small sums nearh^ sixty dol- 
lars, which proved to be a timely relief in this trying exigency. 
He was busily engaged in this business when the time arrived 
for the assembling of the triennial convention for missionary 
purposes in May, 1817, to whose decisions he had looked 
forward with such mingled fear and hope, as certain to have 
a decisive bearing on all his future course. He was, therefore, 



TRIENNIAL CONVENTION OF 18 IT. 65 

a deeply-interested spectator of what transpired on that mo- 
mentous occasion ; and as more than one generation has 
since passed away, it may be interesting to reproduce on these 
pages the more important portion of his condensed records of 
those transactions. The principal actors have all been removed, 
and their sayings and doings may without indelicacy be re- 
viewed by us, with interest certainly, and perhaps with profit. 

Wednesday, May 7, 1817. The missionary convention assembled 
at Sansom street. Credentials were received from the delegates, 
and they took their seats. Eev. Dr. Furman was chosen President, 
and Rev. Daniel Sharp, Secretary— when further business was ad- 
journed till to-morrow morning. 

At evening. Rev. Dr. Baldwin preached the convention-sermon, 
from John iv. 35, 36. He contemplated, 1st, the fields of missionary 
labor ; 2d, the qualifications of missionaries ; 3d, the encouragements 
assured. His discourse was interesting, but wanting in animation. 

Thursday, ^th. The convention heard the report of Brother 
Rice, their general agent. It was very interesting. Oh, how much 
does the zeal and activity of this devoted servant of the Redeemer 
reprove the slothfulness of others in this holy cause ! Communi- 
cations were then read from our brethren in India, both from the 
Serampore missionaries and our own missionaries in Rangoon. A 
church has been formed at the latter place, and all things prosper. 
Were it not for some particular circumstances, I should think it my 
duty to devote my Hfe to that region. The Board made a report in 
part, in which they express their desire that a Western mission be 
entered upon. 

Friday, ^th. Heard the further communications from Burmah 

a joint letter from Brethren Judson and Hough : their plan of mis- 
sionary operations. They utter the Macedonian cry : " Come over 
and help us." They declare their intention never to give up the 
missionary cause. Committees were then appointed to investigate 
the minutes of the Board, and to prepare the business of the con- 
vention. The Board recommended some necessary alterations in 
the constitution so as to embrace home missions ; also to provide 
for the education of missionaries. 

Evening. A general prayer-meeting was held in Sansom street 
for the blessing of God on the convention and for the success of 
our efforts to spread the gospel. 

Saturday, lO^/i— Heard the report of the committee to whom that 



66 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

part of the report of the Board concerning alterations in tlie con- 
stitution had been committed. Considered the recommendations 
in committee of the whole, and reached this result : 

1. Incorporated with the foreign field certain portions of our 
own country under the denomination of a Domestic Mission. This 
secures the great object of a Western mission. 

2. Directed the Board to raise a fund for the establishment of 
one or more classical and theological seminaries to educate mis- 
sionaries and others. 

This, also, I view as a most important object, nearly concerning 
the welfare of the mission. To qualify young men as missionaries 
is a preliminary to sending them out. All this business was con- 
ducted with the utmost love and harmony. Never did I see so 
eventful a period in the cause of religion as the present. Events 
of the utmost importance are depending on the developments of 
every hour. From first to last the hand of God is clearly seen. 
It is to be hoped that the present exertions will arouse every supine 
professor, and excite every latent principle of piety amongst the 
Baptists in our land. 

Evening. Rev. Mr. Baptist, from Virginia, preached in Sansom 
street from 2 Timothy vi. 12. He is a popular young inan, and in 
many respects an orator. 

Monday, 12lh. Convention still engaged in the consideration of ^ 
the important business before them. Besides favorably confirming 
the recommendations of the committee of the whole, from Satur- 
day's sitting, the subject of a more permanent agency in this 
country was considered. It is with no common emotions of delight 
that I have to mention the harmony' and union which prevail in 
our councils. 

Tuesday, Idth. After several important resolutions considered 
and adopted, the convention unanimously approved the doings of 
the Board for the three years past, censuring those individuals 
who have opposed and attempted to injure the mission. Next they 
took into consideration the subject of a mission to Africa ; then 
heard the communication of two young men from Massachusetts 
(Coleman and Wheelock), who offer themselves to the Board. Their 
letters were very animating. 

Received also a communication from New Orleans, setting forth 
the state of things in that region and the great, the pressing need 
of missionary labors. A Board for conducting the missions the 
next three years was then chosen. 

Wednesday, 14</i. — Convention continued its sessions both fore- 



CONVENTION AND BOARD'S PROCEEDINGS. 6t 

noon and afternoon. All things progressed with the utmost har- 
mony. Much business oi" importance was transacted, which I trust 
will be of lasting benefit to the churches. It was ah affecting time 
at the close. Dr. Baldwin made a short address, which awakened 
tender and tearful emotions in nearly all present. The one hundred 
and thirty-third Psalm was then sung, and the convention adjourned 
till the last Wednesday in April, 1820. It is probable that I shall 
never see these fathers and brethren any more in this world, but I 
hope to meet them in the next. Eev. Mr. Leonard preached in the 
evening from Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 

Next day (the 15th) the* Board commenced its important busi- 
ness. Evening, Rev. Mr. Bates preached from Malachi i. 11. Doc- 
trine : The worship of the true God will prevail in all the earth. 
An interesting discourse. 

Friday, 16^7i. The Board still in session. Messrs. Coleman and 
Wheelock were accepted, and appointed missionaries to Rangoon. 
The subject of a domestic mission in the Southwest was brought 
forward. A letter from Rev. Mr. Ronaldson, of New Orleans, was 
read, and an appointment given him with the provision of five hun- 
dred dollars per annum for his support. 

The business relating to myself was then brought forward. [He 
had presented a written document, fully explaining his views and 
feelings, offering himself as a candidate for appointment in the 
Western mission.] 

The business was not taken up in a manner quite satisfactory to 
me ; and the views of the Board seemed rather discordant on the 
question, T[liat should the Domestic fission embrace? Some 
seemed to entertain the idea that it must only embrace an itinerant 
mission among destitute churches and such places as are already 
Christianized. The business was finally deferred till to-morrow. 

This view of the case brought a heavy trial on my mind. Indeed 
I see no way to obtain my object in the mission, but either to engage 
as a mere itinerant for a limited time, or to go exclusively among 
the Indians. The first I do not think my duty under existing cir- 
cumstances ; the last does not seem expedient, '\^^lat will be the 
result I know not. But I feel to trust in a gracious God who will 
do all things well. 

Evening. Heard Rev. John Peck preach from Psalm xxx. 5. 
Retired to rest, but slept Httle, on account of the agitation of my 
mind and the painful suspense under which I labored with regard 
to the mission. 

Saturday, \^^th. This day, I suppose, will decide my future pros- 



68 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

pects. How solemn the thought that a few hours must decide not 
only with respect to what I have been pursuing for two years past, 
but w^hat relates to my whole life in the future ! I feel a degree of 
resignation to the hand of God in whatever he may please to appoint. 
To rffm will I commit the whole concern, believing that he will order 
what is best for his kingdom and glory. At ten o'clock met the 
Board of Missions. After some business of minor importance, 
Brother Welch made his communication to the Board. I made 
some further explanations, and then we withdrew. The decision is 
now pending. What will be the issue I know not. 

Six o'clock. The long agony is over. The Board have accepted 
Mr. Welch and myself as missionaries to the Missouri Territory 
during our and their pleasure ; and have appropriated the sum of 
one thousand dollars to defray our expenses in getting to St. Louis 
and for the support of the mission. In this I think I see the hand 
of God most visibly. From this moment I consider myself most 
sacredly devoted to the mission. Lord, may I live and die in the 
cause ! 

Lord's-day, 18</i. Attended worship in the morning at Sansom 
street. Rev. Daniel Sharp preached from Psalm cxix. 97 an ex- 
cellent, eloquent, and appropriate discourse. After sermon Brother 
John Walker (a fellow-student) received ordination. Dr. Staughton 
asked the usual questions, and presented him the Bible. Dr. Fur- 
man made the ordaining prayer, while all the ministers present im- 
posed hands. Dr. Baldwin gave an excellent and very affecting 
fellowship with the right-hand, and Rev. John Williams gave the 
charge to the candidate. The exercises were solemn and impressive. 

This day is one never to' be forgotten. My fellow-laborer Welch 
and myself are to be solemnly set apart for the work of the mission. 
The exercises are to commence at five o'clock. It is a solemn 
consideration. I have now put my hand to the plow. Lord, 
may I never turn back — never regret this step. It is my desire 
to live, to labor, to die as a kind of pioneer in advancing the gospel. 
I feel the most heavenly joy when my heart is engaged in this work. 

At the appointed hour in Sansom street Rev. Dr. Furman preached 
an appropriate discourse from Acts xiii. 2 : " Separate me Saul and 
Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them." Dr. Staugh- 
ton called on Brother Welch and myself briefly to explain why we 
desired to engage in this mission. Dr. Baldwin offered the prayer. 
Dr. Staughton gave the right-hand of fellowship with a most afiPect- 
ing address, in which he adverted to our residence in his family. 
Rev. Jesse Mercer gave the charge. One expression in the charge 



SETTING APAKT PECK AND WELCH AS MISSIONABIES." 69 

deserves to be indelibly impressed on my heart. Speaking of the 
success which, under the blessing of God, he hoped would crown 
our labors, and enforcing the necessity of prudence in every respect, 
he added : "A little imprudence may spoil the ivliole work." The 
solemn exercises were closed by singing Rev. Sanil. Pearce's favorite 
missionary hymn: ** O'er tlie gloomy hills of darkness," etc., etc. 
After Dr. Staughton gave the right-hand of fellowship, all the min 
'istering brethren gave us their hands and bade us God-speed. When 
I came to take the hand of my ever-valued and much-endeared 
friend. Rice, my heart well nigh failed. The thought rushed on my 
mind with peculiar force : " Soon we separate, perhaps never to 
meet in this world; but I hope we shall meet in heaven." 

After the services closed, many of the dear flock of Sansom street 
came and took me by the hand, bidding me an affectionate farewell. 

Two pages of his journal are here filled with a very appro- 
priate review of the months he had so pleasantly and profit- 
ably spent in Philadelphia, the kind friends who had there 
gathered around him, the obligations under which he was now 
laid to devote himself unreservedly to the great cause of evan- 
gelizing the destitute. A humble sense of his own conscious 
weakness, and his dependence on Divine grace mingles with 
his fervent gratitude to God and to his brethren for the privi- 
lege of being allowed thus to devote himself on the altar of 
duty. Then girding himself anew to the work before him, 
he seems doubly resolved that no efforts or sacrifices on his 
part shall be wanting to promote the cause to which his life 
is now consecrated. 



70 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER YI. 

Preparation and Journey to the West. 

Mr. Peck immediately hastened to his family that he might 
prepare them for the long and toilsome journey to the place 
of their destined residence and labors. He spent one night 
in New York city, hearing Dr. Baldwin preach in Fayette 
(now Oliver) street church, and another in New Haven, where 
he formed the acquaintance of Rev. Mr. Lines, pastor of the 
Baptist church, and of a young brother, Lindsley, a student in 
Yale College, a candidate for the Baptist ministry ; and with 
unutterable emotions reached his father's house, and embraced 
his dear family after his long absence and their many trials. 
This was on the 2 2d of May. The next two months, besides 
the requisite arrangements for their journey, and the leave- 
taking of his and his wife's families and their many friends in 
the places where he had resided and the churches he had 
served, he performed a large amount of pioneer missionary 
work, of an agency kind, throughout a somewhat extensive 
region of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and eastern New York. 
He attended the anniversaries of the Shaftesbury and the 
Saratoga Associations, before both which bodies he was per- 
mitted to plead the cause of missions. He traveled during 
these few weeks by private conveyance or on foot seven or 
eight hundred miles ; and in preaching, visiting,, writing 
letters, and arranging for, and actually forming, auxiliary, 
societies, he performed an almost incredible amount of labor, 
and apparently with gratifying success. He notices in his 
journal the kind courtesy of several Pedobaptist churches in 
New Haven, in Catskill and elsewhere, that opened their 
houses of worship for him cordially, and allowed him to plead 
the cause dearest to his heart before their people, and receive 
their willing offerings. In Troy, Albany, and Hudson also, 



SETTING OUT ON HIS LONG JOURNEY. Tl 

his labors were welcomed and TDlessed. In "West Stock- 
bridge he examined and baptized five candidates, among them 
Nathaniel Colver, then a young man. 

Indeed, were the names of all the loved and honored serv- 
ants of God whom then he met with, and to whom no small 
share of the fire of his own zeal was communicated, here 
enumerated, the catalogue would be found to embrace a large 
number who have worthily carried forward the work on which 
he was then entering. Merely preparatory to his great life- 
labor — as he regarded these services — it may reasonably be 
doubted whether they were not directly and indirectly as 
useful as any which he ever rendered. The holy zeal thus 
enkindled in so many breasts, of both pastors and influential 
members of churches, was indeed a quickening leaven, giving 
greater vitality to their own aflfections and to all with whom 
they came in contact ; and by linking them in thought and 
sympathy to the masses of the unevangelized at home and 
in pagan lands, they experienced the benign influence of the 
moral dignity of the missionary enterprise. On an average 
he preached nearly one sermon a day (on some days not less 
than four), and wrote and received twice as many important 
letters on this great subject during this whole period. No 
wonder he groaned out under this self-imposed burden, and 
instead of recruiting -for the great labor before him, as he 
needed to, he was absolutely exhausting both his physical and 
mental forces. The tender, heart-moving adieus which day 
after day he was taking of dear and valued friends, with the 
feeling in most instances that it was a final parting, was also 
exhausting and depressing. To counterbalance these things, 
he had only the invigorating influence of faith, but this was 
all powerful. 

Friday afternoon, 25th of July, see a little one-horse wagon 
leaving the door of Asa Peck, in Litchfield, with its precious 
freight — his only son and wife with their three little ones. They 
had together read the closing part of the twentieth of Acts, 
had knelt down and prayed together, and with /such sad fare- 
wells as were almost overwhelming, our brother with his 



*12 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

little family here set forth on their journey of more than 
twelve hundred miles, not expecting ever again to meet on 
earth. This was the external aspect of the scene. He who 
w^ould look beneath the calm aspect of the surface -might 
there discover a violent internal struggle. 

This son, now leaving the parental mansion, is not a heed- 
less young man, unacquainted with the depth and tenderness 
of emotions which swell a father's heart. He has for years 
been a father himself — has known the pain of parting with 
his own offspring. He can, therefore, and he does, more 
deeply and thoroughly than he thinks it wise at present to 
manifest, sympathize with the agonizing sensations which his 
feeble and decrepid father now evinces. That aged and infirm 
man has not the faith of his son, nor the heroic fortitude of 
his own wife. She, the tender-hearted mother, with a Chris- 
tian heroism which her sex are so often enabled to exercise, 
rises above the weakness of woman and the fondness of a 
doting parent. Her lip quivers, but her iieart is firm. Tliere 
are tears in her eyes, but there is also a triumphant, exulting 
joy on her countenance as she says : " If the Lord hath need 
of him — only son as he is, and we are growing old — let His 
holy will be done I He gave, and though very precious to 
us was this his gift, yet, if there is a needs be for the sacrifice, 
God forbid that I should hinder his devotement to his Saviour 
and mine." 

The father yielded to his own overmastering sensibilities ; 
he groaned and wept aloud ; and as the little wagon drove 
from the door, his loud outcries of grief were the last sounds 
which fell on the ears of the departing ones. Again and again 
had this grandsire plead that one of the children at least might 
be left to gladden his loneliness. It could not — must not be ; 
and as all this now comes over the minds of these wayfarers, 
doubt not that they too are glad of the shelter of their cov- 
ered vehicle ; for they can give vent to the long pent-up emo- 
tions which perforce they have endeavored to restrain. 

The religion of the great Cross-bearer is essentially a system 
of sacrifices ; but it has also its compensations. The very 



HINDRANCES IN FOUMER TRAVELING. 73 

next Lord's-day this aged pair wiped away their tears, and 
went up to the house of God to worship. They asked (as 
w^as then and is now common in parts of New England) an 
interest in the public prayers for themselves and the dear ones 
on their long journey who had just parted with them. And 
no doubt they felt even then, when all eyes and all kindly 
hearts were turned to the pew which Asa Peck and wife occu- 
pied, that they were privileged and honored in giving up such 
children to the service of the Lord. JS'or were these children 
without their rich recompense. In many ways and forms, 
the bread which they cast upon the waters was found ]\y 
them after many days multiplied an hundred-fold. 

In no one aspect, scarcely, have the last forty years of our 
country's history shown a greater advancement than in the 
facilities for rapid and easy journeying from one remote point 
to another. Now it is very easy in three or four days to 
remove a family with all their substance from the Connecticut 
to the western bank% of the Mississippi. Then it required 
as many months of time, with not a little of toil, exposure, 
and even peril. Will not the readers of this memoir very 
naturally desire a pretty full view of what were the actual ex- 
periences of this family in this their great transition, very little 
more than forty years since ? And as very many of them arf 
able to draw the favorable contrast, by their owm recent expe- 
rience of a journey over the same extent, will not their grati- 
tude be awakened by the facilities, the comforts, the expe- 
dition now realized ? Mr. Peck thus states the distances 
from one point to another, in the route then most frequented, 
in a letter to his wife, some months before their actual setting 
out : From Litchfield, Ct., to Philadelphia, two hundred miles ; 
thence to Pittsburg, three hundred ; to Wheeling, sixt}^ ; to 
Zanesville, fifty-five ; to Chillicothe, seventy-two ; to the cross- 
ing of the Ohio river, sixty-three ; to Lexington, Ky., sixty- 
eight ; to Louisville, seventy-three; to A^incennes, Ind., one 
hundred and twenty-two ; through wilderness to Kaskaskia, 
one hundred and forty-five ; to St. Louis, fiftj^-seven. Total, 
twelve hundred and fifteen. 



14 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

For brevity's sake, pass over the journey to Philadelphia, 
which had now become familiar to him, and which occupied 
ten days, and the week which he spent in that city getting 
his final instructions from the Board, and introducing his wife 
and children to many of the families who, by previous ac- 
quaintance with him, had become most interested in their 
welfare. The subsequent itinerary, with such abridgment 
from the original journal as can be made without essentially 
marring its interest, had been faithfully prepared for insertion 
in this place ; but the publishers cannot allow its introduction 
here : it must find a less conspicuous place, in the appendix, 
or be left out entirely. 

Nearly one month was occupied in passing from Philadelphia 
through the State of Pennsylvania over the Alleghany moun- 
tains, till on the 10th of September he passed into Ohio. 
Three weeks he journeyed in that State, and on the 23d of 
October recrossed the Ohio river into the State of Kentucky, 
where he met with his associate, Welch, and wife, and soon 
left in company with them, and on the 6th of November 
again crossed the Ohio river, into the then territory of Illinois, 
at Shawneetown. Here again some extracts are given from 
his journal. 

Thuesday, October &h. Our arrival was late, and little could be 
learnt in regard to this wretchedly-appearing village. Here the 
glad tidings of salvation are but seldom heard. We are now prop- 
erly on missionary ground, which from its location and destitute 
state must belong to our field. 

This was, indeed, their first entrance into Illinois — then a 
territory — in which Mr. Peck and family were destined to 
spend the greater part of their long and useful lives. How 
full of morally sublime interest, now that we can look back 
upon the whole history, was this entrance on his field I Not 
Cajsar and his legions crossing the Rubicon involved interests 
so vast and blessed, as the humble transit of that little cov- 
ered wagon with its precious contents over the swollen flood 
of the beautiful Ohio on the evening of that dark November 



THREATENING DELUGE. *l5 

day. To the eye of sense how insignificant ! But faith invests 
the scene and its results with new and hallowed attractions. 



Fkiday, November Wi. Weather cloudy, with some rain. We 
are now at the public house kept by Dr. H. Oldham, where we are 
lying an expense, waiting for a turn of weather in our favor. Gen- 
tlemen, lately from St. Louis and Kaskaskia, represent the roads for 
fifty miles as extremely bad ; but, as every kind of carriage is pass- 
ing, we apprehend no insuperable diflficulty. Lord, preserve us 
from harm ! 

Met with Mr. Paine, my brother-in-law, who has been waiting here 
for us nearly three weeks. He is designing to accompany us to 
St. Louis. 

The waters in the Ohio are still rising rapidly. Should the banks 
become full, this village mast be overflowed. Immense quantities 
of driftwood are floating down the river, rendering the crossing 
very difficult. 

In the evening I preached, at the house where we lodge, to a 
goodly number of people, from Acts xiii. 26, last clause. A decent 
and solemn attention was given. Oh, that the word of salvation 
may be sent with power to the people of this village ! 

Saturday, 8^/i. Through the whole night the rain has fallen in 
torrents, and continues to pour down. The river has risen the past 
night between two and three feet, with the certain prospect of over- 
flowing the town, should it long continue to rise. What is to be 
done, I know not. In addition to the deep mud, hitherto our chief 
obstacle, we are now to encounter the swollen creeks and rivers, ren- 
dered, for some days at least, impassible. Still I am not disheart- 
ened. Divine Providence will open some way for our relief. Should 
a convenient boat come down the river, bound for St. Louis, I am 
inclined to think it will be best to send on my family by water. 

Evening. The rain has continued unabated, and the river rises 
rapidly, threatening to deluge the town. Several times it has been 
overflowed and destroyed by water, but ahvays in the spring. Never 
was it known to rise so high at this season of the year before. Back 
of the town, only one-half mile distant, the water has become so 
deep as to be impassible with our wagon. Just at sunset there was 
a breaking away of the clouds in the west, indicating fair weather 
to-morrow. But passing is impossible until the waters on our road 
are fallen. Here we are obhged to remain till the providence of 
God shall relieve us from our present perplexed condition. 



16 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

I stepped into a grocery where were assembled a number of wild 
fellows, swearing and blaspheming at a most horrid rate. I have 
seen enough of Shawneetown to justify what is reported of it as a 
most abandoned place. There are some decent, clever families; 
but I have conversed with none who seem decidedly religious. To- 
morrow will show how the Sabbath is regarded. I never saw a 
place more destitute of religious instruction; and 3^et unless very 
prudent measures are pursued, little good can be expected to result. 

Lord's-day, 9th. At an early hour a boat came along, bound to St. 
Louis ; and, leaving Brother Welch to conduct the religious services" 
which had been announced, my family and I stepped on board it, 
compelled thereto by our necessity, as I thought, and took our leave 
of Shawneetown. The arrangement was that Brother AVelch and 
wife should wait for the subsiding of the waters, and come on by 
land ; and my Brother Paine should take on my horse and wagon, 
while my wife and little ones would be more comfortable in the little 
six-by-ten feet cabin of the keel-boat, which my family shared with 
the captain, having accommodations for cooking and eating in what 
they call the " midships" section of the boat. The captain, J. Nixon, 
appears very friendly, and is to carry me and my family to St. Louis 
for twenty-five dollars. The hands are young men, going into the 
AVestern country, and as yet conduct themselves with decent civ- 
ility. Though a little crowded, we feel ourselves comfortable and 
happy. Down the Ohio we are pleasantly floating with the gentle 
current, while nothing opposes our course but a slight breeze from 
the west, which only renders our passage more agreeable. The 
banks present little diversity for a considerable distance except a 
few moderate hills on the Illinois side. The flat country back from 
the river is now overflowed. The day is given to devout meditation. 

Evening. The sun has just set behind the woods of Illinois, ex- 
hibiting a most beautiful sight after so much bad weather. In a 
figure, I seem to see in it Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, shining 
upon the last hours of the dying saint, whose hope is in the 
Redeemer, and whose glory then begins. "With much pain I reflect 
on the necessity which seemed to demand of us such a use of the 
Lord's day. I can truly say : "How amiable are thy tabernacles, 
Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts 
of the Lord. While traveling by land, it was not always prac- 
ticable to have regular morning and evening worship. Now, in 
our little, retired cabin, we hope to regularly engage in this im- 
portant and delightful service. Read Isaiah i. and united in prayer 
with my dear companion. 



CAPTAIN LOST IN THE WOODS. Tt 

Monday, lO^Zi, Weather delightfully pleasant. Some of the time 
the wind is in our favor. We ran with the current all the last night, 
and a httle after sunrise found ourselves opposite the mouth of the 
Cumberland river. About noon we passed the mouth of the Ten- 
nessee. Soon after we stopped at Fort Massac, on the Illinois shore, 
seeking for boat-stores, but could obtain nothing but potatoes. 
Most of the way the banks are low on each side, and the country 
overflowed at the present high water. In some few places, however, 
the banks are bold, and the country back swells into gentle-rising 
grounds. Most of it is still in the state of nature, through which 
the wolf 4nd bear roam and the timid deer frisks its light gambols. 

We are happy in our situation, though destitute of many ordinary 
comforts. Confined in a small keel-boat, with few utensils for cook- 
ing, our fare coarse and, in the article of bread, scanty, yet we are 
far from complaining. Ours is destined to be a life of privation, 
trial, and hardship. All this I anticipated before engaging in the 
missionary work. I now begin again to feel the same devotion to 
the cause, and the same willingness to be a sufferer, if that will 
advance the cause of the Son of God, which used to animate me. 

Towards night the clouds gathered, and a storm seemed coming 
on. Our boat is heavily loaded, and the prospect induced our 
captain to put in shore, and lie for the night, under a hill on the 
Illinois side. 

Tuesday, 11th. Last night proved rainy, with some wind, and 
much thunder and lightning. This morning the wind and rain 
keep us in harbor. My fears are not a little awakened for the 
comfort and safety of Brother and Sister Welch. They have to 
n»ake their way overland ; but if stormy weather continues, their 
journey must be extremely uncomfortable, even if the roads should 
be passable. Through the day the rain continued to fall copiously, 
and the wind blew so hard that we did not venture to proceed. 
Captain Nixon, who commands the boat, in the morning took his 
gun and went out for game. At dark he had not returned, which 
excited considerable uneasiness, lest some accident had befallen 
him. A short distance from where we are lying are the ruins of 
an old fort or encampment [Fort Wilkinson] , where are the ruins 
of several houses which have been burned. Near by is a burying- 
ground, where are multitudes of graves. We were informed by a 
young man that it was a fortification, occupied in 1801, but evacu- 
ated on account of the sickly condition of the troops stationed there. 
Near sunset the rain ceased, and prospects of fine weather cheered 
us. 



18 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Wednesday, Vltli. Last night was the most dismal we have yet 
experienced. The wind began to rise in the evening, and con- 
tinued to increase until it blew a gale. It was from the southwest, 
and from that quarter alone we were unsheltered. It was found 
necessary to moor both head and stern of our boat, which w-as done 
by fixing strong ropes to small trees and saplings, the yielding of 
Mhieh to the strain gave us some play. We were under fearful 
apprehension of breaking from these moorings, in which case our 
wreck on the shore or against some huge tree would be inevitable. 
Our skiff drifted from the boat, and we expected we would be stove 
or lost. These gloomy prospects, in the absence of the captain, 
whose skill was now so necessary, seemed fearfully depressing. 
Every countenance was covered with gloom. Yet even in the 
midst of all this I found comfort in the reflection that the winds 
and waves are under the Divine guidance ; that even the smallest 
events occupy a special place under the economy of God's provi- 
dence. Immediately after breakfast we agreed that assistance should 
be obtained from the only two families living within twelve miles, 
and that such of the hai^ds as could be spared from the boat should 
go in search of the captain. I volunteered to go with one scouting- 
party, and spent most of the day searching the woods, but without 
success. Nor were the others more fortunate. One party, however, 
liad the good luck to kill a deer, whose meat was a seasonable supply. 

About four o'clock, afternoon, the captain arrived, quite worn-out 
with fatigue and hunger. Having lost his way yesterday while 
eagerly following a deer which he had shot, he wandered about 
among dismal swamps and ponds till night, when he was obliged to 
stop. In the morning he directed his course by the sun. Aftar 
swimming one wide sheet of water, and wading through several 
others, he at length reached a path which enabled him to find his 
Avay out. Late in the afternoon the wind died away, promising us 
a still night. Thus after all our threatening discouragements we 
again have pleasant prospects, and are enabled to rear our Ebenezer. 
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 

Thursday, 13^/i. The weather proves delightful — a little frosty and 
cold. Soon after sunrise the boat was on her Avay again, moving 
with all the velocity which the swollen current could give. The 
banks on each side are low, except some bluffs on the right or 
Illinois shore. Many places were overflowed by the high water. 
Now and then a solitary cottage gave variety to the scene. At 
eleven and a half o'clock the majestic Mississippi presented itself 
before us. The land on every side appeared too low to admit of 



SABBATH PRIVATIONS IN TRAVELING. TO 

much settlement. Opposite the month of the Ohio, on the Mis- 
souri shore, were a few houses and an encampment of soldiers. 
Got up our sail, after considerable delay, and were wafted about 
five miles up the river, and came to under the east shore. 

Friday, l^th. Weather rainy. About sunrise the boat was under 
weigh again, proceeding up the Mississippi. Various methods are 
employed in propelling a boat against the current in these large 
rivers. When the A\^nd is favorable the sail is used ; but often we are 
obliged to creep along shore, and by the help of oars, or long poles, 
and sometimes by catching hold of bushes, the men are enabled to 
drag the boat along. In some cases, where the banks are sufficiently 
high, a rope of a hundred fathoms length is attached to the top of 
the mast, and men walking on the shore drag the boat after them. 
A little past noon the wind and rain obliged us to He to, under the 
Missouri shore, where we spent the night. 

Saturday, 15^/1. The day fair, the air cool, and all things favorable, 
for an early departure. We are now proceeding around the great 
bend which the Mississippi makes in this part of its course, and 
which is very accurately delineated on Mellfsh's new map of the 
United States. The flood-water of the Ohio sets far up the Missis- 
sippi, and neutrahzes the current so as not much to impede our 
progress. 

Lord's-day, IQth. Cloudy, cold, with wind from northeast, bring- 
ing some flakes of snow, or rather hail. None but those deprived 
of the privileges of the sanctuary can duly appreciate the blessed 
enjoyment of meeting with the people of God. David seems clearly 
to intimate this in the eighty-fourth psalm, where he envies even 
the swallow who, through the desertion of the altar-worship, nestled 
in the sacred place. This day, as the last Sabbath, must be spent 
on board the boat ; but, oh, let a proper remembrance of it be im- 
pressed upon my heart ! Enjoyed some freedom while engaged in 
secret devotion. Towards noon, the boat being near the Missouri 
shore, I went on shore at a small settlement. Here I found two 
families of Baptists, and from them obtained considerable informa- 
tion respecting religion on the west side of the river. There is a 
Baptist church about fifteen miles above, where a Mr. Edwards 
preaches to-day. Oh, that I were there to aid him in declaring the 
name of Jesus ! 

Monday, 17^7i. Called at a house on shore to inquire for provisions, 
and learned from the people that there is a great opening in this 
region for schools. My thoughts are much exercised on some sys- 
tematic plan to be formed for planting and sustaining schools in all 



80 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

this country. How much wisdom is requisite to originate a judi- 
cious system promotive of the cause in which I am engaged ! 

Our progress up the river is slow and often retarded. We get 
forward not more than eight or ten miles a day. About two o'clock 
the boatman ran on a cleft of rocks, which threatened serious in- 
jury, but, through a merciful Providence, we at last got off safe. 
The land on each side of the river here assumes an aspect unlike 
that below. Moderate hills give a pleasing variety to the scenery, 
while the rugged rocks projecting from the banks remind the trav- 
eler of dear New England. We are now just below Ross point, 
where several Baptists reside. 

Tuesday, 18^/i. Cloudy and cold. The ground is frozen in many 
places. Last evening we lay a little above Ross's Ferry. Called on 
Mr. Ross, a Baptist, and Mr. Edwards, a Baptist minister, in this 
region. Was agreeably surprised to learn that there were seven 
churches associated in this part of the territory of Missouri. Here 
is a vast field for labor, and the work is already commenced. 

Wednesday, 19^/i. To-day we passed Cape Girardeau. At night, 
when the boat was moored, I went ashore to walk back to the Cape, 
which was thought to be only a mile and a half distant. It proved 
to be three miles. Walking there and back the same evening, the 
exertion was too much for my feeble frame. This overdoing, with 
a severe cold which I have recently taken, has thrown me into a 
fever, which now confines me, and threatens some severe sickness. 



INTERRUrTION OF JOURNAL BY ILLNESS. 81 



CHAPTER YII. 

St. Louis — its condition forty years since. # 

December 23d. A long blank here occurs in my journal. We 
arrived here December 1st. Near Cape Girardeau sickness seized 
me, and I have been unable to write. I am even now in a critical 
situation. My disorder threatens to be of a pulmonary character. 
Our trials are great, but we try to bear with patience. I have con- 
sulted a skilful medical man, and he advised me to put myself im- 
mediately under the care of some regular physician in the place for 
a thorough course of medicine. 

The above entry bears marks of having been made when 
the writer was scarcely able to holc^ a pen, and wrote from a 
kind of forced necessity. It is followed by another blank in 
the journal almost as long. But we have now reached a point 
where it is possible to substitute the later ''reminiscences" of 
Dr. Peck, recorded by his own hand, and prepared by him for 
the public eye, instead of the abstract of the journal which 
the editor had prepared. These recollections of St. Louis, 
which will occupy the present chapter, are prefaced by some 
account of his manner in reaching it, and they shall be pre- 
sented entire. 

On two occasions, and for the first time in the history of the 
Great River, steamboats had passed up to St. Louis and returned 
the preceding summer. The first steamboat that ascended the 
Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio was the General Pike, 
commanded by Captain Jacob Reed, which reached St. Louis, Au- 
gust 2d, 1817. The second was the Constitution, commanded by 
Captain R. P. Guyard, which arrived October 2d, the same season. 
Captain G. was an Englishman, a professor of religion and member 
of a Baptist church before he left his native country. He was a 
man of great enterprise ; had followed the seas, as commander, with 
success ; and came up the Mississippi from New Orleans with a 
cargo for the then remote French village of St. Louis. 

The keel-boat containing my family reached Cape Girardeau on 



BSL MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the 19th of November, and passed on above a point of land where 
the " old town" was situated. Having letters to persons in the 
village, and supposing it not to be over two miles, I went down in 
the evening, following a trail that wound around the bluffs the dis- 
tance, as I found on experiment, of nearly four miles. At the Cape, 
as the village was called, I was introduced to Hon. Richard Thomas, 
afterwards a judge of the circuit court in that district, and several 
other gentlemen, and learned many facts about that part of Mis- 
souri. 

Being under the necessity of lodging on the boat, as we started 
at the first appearance of daylight, I walked rapidly, became fatigued, 
took a severe cold, and next day found myself too ill to leave the 
cabin. We were ill-provided with medicine, no physicians of course 
to be had, and suffering under a severe fever, while the boat by the 
hard labor of the hands made about ten miles daily against the 
strong current. I heard from the captain about the " grand tower," 
the "devil's bake-oven," the "boatman's tea-table," aud other sin- 
gular formations, as we passed, but could not see them. It was 
somewhere above these places that a large sycamore had fallen from 
the Missouri shore into the current, and stretched its long arms into 
the river and down the stream. Around this the boat had to pass 
against the foaming, rushing current. All the hands were on shore 
tugging with all their force at the cordelle. I could hear the water 
rush up the side of the boat where I lay, and knew there must be 
danger, for the captain at the highest pitch of voice was calling to 
the men, and, sailor-like, swore profanely, which he never did in my 
hearing before or since. In a few moments the noise of the rushing 
waters and the cry of the captain ceased. He entered the little 
cabin, pale, ghastly, and in a tremor though he had the character 
of a brave and fearless man. Soon as he could gain the power of 
utterance, he replied to our inquiry, " AVhat's the matter ?" — "You 
have had a perilous escape. Had the cordelle broke, or the men 
not exerted themselves to the utmost, the boat would have been in 
the bottom of the river, and no power on earth could save you." 
Aided by the captain, I crawled out of the cabin to survey the perils 
of the Mississippi. The boat lay safely moored to the shore in an 
eddy, above the body of the tree. Around its top and among its 
huge limbs the water was rushing furiously, and it'really seemed 
marvelous that we escaped. I resolve all such deliverances by a 
firm belief in that particular Providence whose ceaseless energy is 
constantly employed in the sustenation and preservation of all his 
creatures. How heathenish and unphilosophical is it for men of 



FORMER METHODS OF BOATTNO. 83 

Bcientific attainments to talk, write, and lecture about the " Laws 
of Nature," as though the infinite and all-creating God had made 
a universe, containing some of his own essential attributes — a sort 
of machine that, when once put in motion, can move itself by its 
own imaginary "laws." 

I recollect only one more incident on our voyage, for I was too 
sick to make entries in my journal. At the mouth of the Platin 
creek, a few miles below Herculaneum, is a flat rock extending 
some distance under the river. Here so strong a current rushed 
along shore that the hands could not pull the boat with the cor- 
delle, and it fell back below two or three times. At last the cordelle 
parted, and the boat fell below the current, being kept in shore by 
the captain at the steering-oar. The aid of some men being ob- 
tained, the hands succeeded in getting the boat to a safe landing. 

As the keel boat, with the "last of the boatmen," has passed 
away, with other conveniences and appendages of pioneer life, in 
this "age of steam," many of our readers will not understand the 
nature and mode of working this craft without further description. 

A keel-boat in shape very nearly resembled a canal boat, but with 
a gunwale on each side twelve or fifteen inches in width. Besides 
hoisting a sail in a favorable wind, especially when going down 
stream, there were three modes of propelling a keel-boat in passing 
up. stream. These were the use of the cordelle, the setting-pole, and 
occasionally bushwhacking. 

Except in crossing a river, when oars were used, the boat had to 
creep along shore. The cordelle (French for little rope) was a long 
rope fastened to the bow of the boat, and drawn over the shoulders 
of the men, who walked in a stooping position along the shore. The 
setting-pole was ten or twelve feet long, the lower end shod with 
iron, and the upper end terminating in a knob, which was pressed 
against the shoulder. In using this where the water was of suffi- 
cient depth, the men placed themselves on the narrow gunwale, 
with their faces toward the stern, their heads bent low, and as the 
boat moved ahead they walked toward the stern. The one in front 
would turn about, pass the others, and take his station in the rear. 
When the hands on the gunwale dropped their setting-poles, and 
caught the limbs and brush along shore, and thus dragged the boat 
ahead, it was called "bushwhacking." A long, heavy oar, with a 
wide blade, was attached to the stern, and moved on a pivot, which 
the captain or pilot managed while standing on the roof, or, in boat- 
man slang, the deck. 

It was early in the morning of the first of December we found 



84 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

ourselves lying about at the foot of Elm street. Ee v. Mr. Welch, 
and wife, my colleague, my brotlier-in-law, with our horses, had 
reached this place a week previous, and had made some acquaint- 
ances in tiie village. I was still sick, with a low intermittent. He 
had procured for my family a shelter — a single room at the corner 
of Myrtle and Main streets. It was the only tenement that could 
be found in the village, and had just been vacated by the now ven- 
erable Matthew Kerr and his partner Mr. Bell, as a counting-room. 
There I lay confined with illness two months. For three weeks I 
had no physician, knowing that such a remote village would be the 
point to which incompetent persons might resort, and attempt to 
act the doctor. The late Dr. Young, who came from Kentucky, and 
planted himself in the present county of Warren, and located Mar- 
thasville, came to St. Louis. Mr. Welch, who knew him personally 
in Kentucky, as a regularly educated physician, brought him to my 
house. He recommended immediate application to Farrar and 
AValker, then practicing physicians of skill and fidelity ; and Dr. 
AYalker attended daily, and Dr. Farrar occasionally, until I was re- 
stored. 

At the commencement of 1818, St. Louis was crowded with inhab- 
itants, including families temporarily residing there for the winter. 
Every house and room that could shelter persons was occupied. 
There was no regular hotel, nor were there even boarding-houses, 
that afforded nightly accommodation. Alexandre Bellissamekept a 
French tavern at the corner of Second and Myrtle streets, where 
farmers from the country found food and shelter for themselves and 
horses. The storekeepers, most of whom were without families, in 
many instances, kept "bachelor's hall" in their counting-rooms, 
and cooked their own meals. " Shin-plaster" currency abounded. 
The bills were the droppings of the first generation of banks insti- 
tuted in the far West without any adequate specie basis. Their 
leaves were scattered over the frontiers like the leaves of the trees 
by an autumnal frost, and the price of every article of necessity 
(for articles of luxury were not thought of) was high in proportion. 

This bore heavily on us as missionaries, under sacred obligations 
to use an economy bordering on parsimony, m all our expenses. It 
was " California times" for families to live in St. Louis in those days. 
The houses, shops, and stores were all small. Many only one story, 
and limited to two or three small rooms, were thought to be quite 
commodious. For the single room my family occupied for nine 
months, we paid twelve dollars per month. Mr. Welch engaged a 
room in the rear of a store, for school purposes, about fourteen by 



EXPENSIVENESS OF LIVING IN ST. LOUIS. 86 

sixteen feet, for fourteen dollars per month. Eatables were not 
easily obtained, and only at extravagant prices. Butter was from 
thirty-seven to fifty cents per pound, sugar from thirty to forty 
cents, coffee from sixty-two to seventy-five. Flour of an inferior 
quality cost about twelve dollars per barrel. Corn in the ear, for 
horse-feed, from one dollar to one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
bushel. Pork, raised on the range, was regarded a cheap article at 
six to eight dollars per hundred pounds. Chickens sold readily for 
thirty-seven cents each, and eggs from thirty-seven to fifty cents 
the dozen. 

Oppressive as were the prices of every article of living in St. Louis 
at the commencement of 1818, and inconvenient as were our ac- 
commodations, the morals and religion of the place were the most 
•Ukely to awaken our attention and call forth our sympathies. 

It is here expedient to draw an accurate picture of St. Louis as 
it appeared to the writer, during a few months of his early acquaint- 
ance, in the beginning of 1818. There was a class of gentlemen 
of the bar, the medical profession, merchants, and ofiicers in civil^ 
and military authority, Indian traders, etc., whose character and 
behavior, for men of the world, and destitute of any strong religious 
principles, were not gross, but respectable. They played cards for 
amusement, and of course bet liberally. They had social " sprees" 
occasionally, and indulged in habits of conviviality. Yet they ex- 
hibited some noble qualities, were generous and liberal, and governed 
by principles of honor. Some of these men in 1831, and at subse- 
quent periods, made a profession of true religion, joined a Christian 
church, and lived and died as Christian men should do. Some, with 
hoary heads and feeling the infirmities of age still live, and are hon 
ored, respected, and beloved by all who know them. 

We would delight in giving the impressions, as among our most 
vivid reminiscences, made on our mind from the casual social inter- 
course, without any attempt at intimacy, with many whose names 
and peculiar traits of character come within memory's vision. But 
the field is too large, and propriety and delicacy forbid saying any 
thing. Of the law profession there was the late Judge'Carr (Wm. C), 
Edward Bates — still among us in the vigor of his profession — David 
Barton, his brother Joshua, who was killed in a duel by one of the 
rectors in 1823. This victim was an intelligent man, of a sprightly 
mind, and possessed many amiable qualities, but fell a sacrifice to 
the barbarous and unchristian practice of dueling. There had been 
several duels within a year ; and I gave out an appointment to 
prcacli on the subject at my next monthly visit to St. Louis, with 
8 



86 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the resolution that I would not spare. In the interval of time, two 
more duels had taken place. One had proved mortal to one of the 
party, from a shot through the abdomen ; while his antagonist, who 
escaped without a wound, took a severe attack of fever, caused, 
probably, by the preternatural excitement, and died Avithin a week. 
My text was from Isaiah i. 15, last .clause : ^'Your hands are full of 
hlaody The old Baptist church-house, which stood on the corner 
of Third and Market streets, was the place ; and it was crowded by 
all classes, amongst whom I discovered the Hon. David Barton, then 
a Senator in Congress, whose lamented brother was one of the vic- 
tims, and the late Rev. Samuel Mitchell, whose eldest son was an- 
other. I had taken the precaution to write out every word of my 
discourse. I did my utmost to hold up the practice of dueling to 
the abhorrence of all right-minded men, as a crime of no small mag- 
nitude against God, against man, against society. 

The discourse made a little *' town-talk" in the village, and I re- 
ceived the thanks and approbation of many citizens. I made no 
personal reflections, but portrayed to the best of my abilit3'^ the 
disastrous effects of dueling on the social relations, and the folly of 
obtaining satisfaction for injuries in such a mode. 

But I have wandered ahead, and perhaps anticipated events that 
belong to a future period of these reminiscences, and must nov/ 
take the "back-track." And what shall I say of Robert Wash, 
afterwards on the Supreme Bench of the State ; of Judge Tucker, 
who lived in a log cabin, and had his law office in a hollow sycamore, 
a few miles east of Florissant ; of a Mr. Cozzens (his first name for- 
gotten), who was assassinated in 1826; of James H. Peck, after- 
wards district judge of the United States court ; and of many others, 
whose names for the moment have escaped my memory. 

The Hon. Henfy S. Geyer, now (1856) in the United States Senate, 
I thought was the keenest for wit and sarcasm, and the most biting 
satire, of any lawyer I had ever heard before a jury. The distin- 
guished ex-Senator of " thirty years" T. H. Benton, who, whatever his 
political friends or enemies may think, has certainly made broad and 
deep lines in the political history of this nation, was at the bar in 
St. Louis at the period alluded to ; but it so happened, I never heard 
him make a regular address to either court or jury. 

Of the physicians, I have already mentioned Doctors Farrar and 
Walker, both kind-hearted, respectable, and highly-respected physi- 
cians. Dr. Walker died early with the bilious fever — that common 
and fatal disease that carried off so many vigorous young men every 
Bummer for several years. Dr. Farrar lived to an advanced period, 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF EARLY INHABITANTS. 87 

highly respected, and died some half dozen years since. Dr. Simp- 
son and Qnarles kept a druggist shop and also practiced. Dr. S. 
is known to many as a kind-hearted and good-natured old man, past 
threescore and ten, and may be found regularly by his old acquaint- 
ances in the counting-room of the Republican office about nine 
o'clock, A.M. Then there was Dr. Garuiort, who had a respectable 
hne of practice, and the venerable Dr. Saugrain, who Hved on Second 
street, low down, and kept a neat garden. He had the confidence 
of the French families, as a physician, and I think was something 
of a naturahst and botanist in his pursuits. 

There was another class ih St. Louis at the period of these rem- 
iniscences that merit only that sort of notice which will place in 
wide and vivid contrast the advances in morals and social order by 
the American and French population. One-half, "at least, of the 
Anglo-American population were infidels of a low and indecent 
grade, and utterly worthless for any useful purposes of society. 
Of the class I allude to, I cannot recollect an individual who was 
reclaimed, or became a respectable citizen. The reader will keep 
in mind that at that period there were no foreign emigrants from 
their native country among us. 

This class despised and villified religion in every form, were vul- 
garly profane, even to the worst forms of blasphemy, and poured 
out scoflfings and contempt on the few Christians in the village. 
Their nightly orgies were scenes of drunkenness and profane revelry. 
Among the frantic rites observed were the mock celebration of the 
Lord's Supper, and burning the Bible. The last ceremony consisted 
in raking a place in the hot coals of a w^ood fire, and burying therein 
the book of God w^ith shoutings, prayers, and songs. 

The boast was often made that the Sabbath never had crossed, 
and never should cross the Mississippi. The portion of the Anglo- 
American population who had been trained to religious habits in 
early life, and manifested some respect for the forms of worship, 
were kept av.ay from the place of worship by an influence of which 
perhaps they were not fully conscious. Though the profane ribaldry 
of the class already noticed did not convince their judgments of 
the fallacy of all religion, it affected their feelings and pride of char- 
acter. But there was another class whose influence was far more 
eff'ective, because it carried with it a degree of courtesy, respecta- 
bility, and intelligence. I refer to the better-informed French popu- 
lation. These constituted at least one-third of the families. They 
were nominally Roman Catholics, and their wives, sisters, and daugh- 
ters adhered to the CathoHc faith, attended mass, and went to con- 



88 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK 

fession regularly. The men attended church on festival occasions. 
But every Frenchman, with whom I formed an acquaintance, of 
any intelligence and influence, was of the school of French liberal- 
ists — an infidel to all Bible Christianity. But they would treat 
Christian people, and even Protestant ministers of the gospel, with 
courtesy and respect. Romanism was the religion of their fathers, 
but the casual correspondence held with France, where infidelity was 
demolishing the thrones of political and religious despotism, and 
tearing up the foundations of superstition, led them to regard all 
religion as priestcraft, necessary perhaps for the ignorant, super- 
stitious, and vicious, but wholly unnecessary for a gentleman — a 
philosopher. 

The good-natured jokes and badinage of their French acquaint- 
ances, and the bitter taunts of the profane and drunken scoffers, 
made it unpopular and unfashionable to be seen on the way to 
church on Sunday, except on special occasions. 

The Sabbath was a day of hilarity, as in all Catholic countries. 
!^rass was attended in the morning by females and illiterate French- 
men ; and in the afternoon, both French and Americans assembled 
at each other's houses in parties for social amusement. Dances, 
billiards, cards, and other sports, made the pastime. Four billiard- 
rooms w^ere open throughout the week, but on the Sabbath each 
was crowded with visitors and gamblers. With few exceptions, the 
stores and groceries were open on that day, and in some of them 
more trading was done then than on any other day in the week. 
The carts and wagons from the country came to market, and sold 
their provisions at retail through the village. 

Another source of irreligion may be traced to officers in the 
United States Army, who, with few exceptions, were irreligious them- 
selves, having vague notions of a future state, with some crude 
Universalian notions as the basis of their own prospects. 

There was one family connection in St. Louis, the head of which 
was a prominent officer of Government, and who had an influence 
over many young men in his official relation. The influence of this 
family in demoralization was by no means small. And when we 
say family, let no one associate the idea of mother, wife, or sister ; 
for females were not their associates, except an abandoned class. 
It is a singular, but Providential retribution, that not one of the 
name is now to be found on the city register. All the old ones 
have gone to their graves and been forgotten ; and if any of the 
younger branches are left, they must be sought for in other States. 

It is here proper to allude to the great changes since wrought — 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES IN MISSOURI. 89 

partly by the immigration of Christian professors from older States, 
and partly, to the power and grace of God, by individual conversion. 
Leaving out the Germans and Irish of foreign birth, there are now 
as great a proportion of pious Christian church-members and of 
church-going people, in the ratio of the whole population, as in 
Philadelphia, New York, or any other large commercial city in our 
country. 

The Eev. Salmon Giddings w^as the pioneer missionary in St. Louis, 
and the first minister of the gospel who preached there in view of 
a permanent location. Baptists and Methodists, though scattered 
throughout the country, had never preached the gospel in this 
toAvn. Messrs. Mills and Smith, as evangelical explorers, visited 
and preached in St. Louis in November, 1814. The late Eev. Dr. 
Blackburn, of Tennessee, made a visit to this remote village the 
preceding summer, and preached to an audience respectable for 
numbers. This iv as the first gospel sermon ever preached in the 
town, for I never call the addresses of Eomanists gospel preaching. 

The labors of Mr. Giddings for eighteen months were wholly itin- 
erant, in which he visited most of the villages and settlements on 
both sides of the Mississippi. One object of these labors kept in 
view was to search out persons who had been members of Presby- 
terian churches, and, as wandering sheep, to gather them into the 
fold. The first church he gathered was in Bellevue settlement, 
Washington county, about ten miles south of Potosi. There a 
colony of Presbyterians had settled. This was on the 2d of August, 
1816. It was- the first Presbyterian congregation ever gathered 
west of the Great Eiver, and consisted of thirty communicants. 
The next was the church in Bonhomme, thirty miles w^est of St. 
Louis, and included sixteen communicants. The third was the First 
Presbyterian church in St. Louis, of ten members, formed in Novem- 
ber, 1817, to which he ministered as stated supply and pastor till 
his death. He did not confine his labors wholly to the town, but 
continued to itinerate, occasionally visiting the villages and settle- 
ments. For four years he supplied the church in St. Louis one- 
half the Sabbaths, and during ten years he gathered five churches 
in Missouri and six in Illinois. He was one of the most quiet, pa- 
tient, plodding, self-denying and faithful missionaries the Presbyte- 
rians, or Congregationalists, ever sent into this country. 

In addition to the obstacles to the propagation of a pure Chris- 
tianity found in the laxity of morals, w^ant of reverence for the 
Sabbath, and disinclination to regular attendance on a preached 
gospel, there is another class which should be noticed. I refer to 



90 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the colored people, both free and bond. The number of free blacks 
and mulattoes was small in comparison to the whole population. 
Of these, two persons, the late J. B. Meachum and his first wife, were 
Baptists, and truly religious. Of the rest, some were riiore moral 
than others ; but all alike were without religious instruction. The 
Sabbath to them was a relief from toil. There was an open space, 
of a square or more, between Main and Second streets, and not far 
probably from Green street. Here the negroes were accustomed to 
assemble in the pleasant afternoons of the Sabbath, dance, drink, 
and fight, quite to the annoyance of all seriously-disposed persons. 

On the 11th of April, 1818, we had an introduction to the late 
AVilliam Clark, Governor ot the Territory, who had been absent at 
Washington city during the winter. We had letters of introduction 
from distinguished citizens of Kentucky. The moral condition of 
the negroes was one topic of conversation, and the best mode of 
instruction. The governor, alluding to the scenes of dancing, riot, 
drunkenness, and fighting on the Sabbath, already referred to, stated 
that the preceding summer he had to call out a military company 
three times to suppress riots amongst this class. The character 
of negroes in general is a tolerably correct index to that of the white 
population among whom they reside. They are characteristi(^for 
imitation, and are quick in catching the living manners, and quite 
successful in cultivating the low vices of their superiors. Such was 
the condition of the negroes, which prompted us as missionaries to 
make an eflPort to reclaim them through religious instruction. 

The persons who gave evidence of true piety in St. Louis at that 
period can be easily enumerated. Of Presbyterians of the General 
Assembly, we have already mejitioned ten as united in covenant- 
relation in the First Presbyterian church. The most prominent 
and influential of these were the Hempstead family. The venerable 
patriarch and his wife lived five miles north of the town on the farm 
where the beautiful cem.etery called Bellefontaine is now situated. 

He was eminently a religious man, while by untiring industry, a 
commendable economy, and strict integrity in business, he acquired 
property. His eldest son, Edward, was educated for the bar, and 
possessed talents of a high order. He came to Missouri soon after 
the treaty of cession, probably as early as 1806 or 1807. Three other 
brothers came soon after. In 1811, the father with his family arrived. 

Mr. Hempstead was active in correspondence with clergymen and 
others in the Eastern States to obtain a Protestant minister. He 
obtained a box of Bibles from the Connecticut Bible Society, rode 
over the country, visited the families and supplied them with copies 



EARLY BAPTISTS AND METHODISTS IxN ST. LOUIS. 91 

of the Word of God. Previous to that effort, m 1814, no Bibles 
could be obtained on this remote frontier. The only chance for a 
family to obtain a copy was to send by some friend or neighbor, who 
was about to journey to the old States, to purchase them a Bible and 
bring it in the saddle-bags. During the period of his residence in 
the country, he was active in " works of faith and labors of love ;" 
sought out and administered to the sick, the poor, and the friendless, 
and prayed with the bereaved and distressed. He was ordained the 
first ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and became a prom- 
inent pillar therein. 

The most prominent Baptist in St. Louis was John Jacdby, who 
carried on the business of a saddler and harness-maker. Mr. Jacoby 
was a native of Virginia, born in 1781, but his parents migrated to 
Kentucky when he was a small child, where at an early age he left 
his father, and was bound to a trade. After serving out his appren- 
ticeship, with honor to himself and fidelity to his master, he com- 
menced business, and, in 1806, married Miss Jane Starks. He was 
exemplary in morals, but remained a stranger to the power and con- 
solation of the gospel till 1810, when the death of his two eldest 
children became such an admonition of Providence as led him 
and his wife to the Saviour of sinners, and to hope in his mercy. 
This was in October, 1811. The next April he and his wife were 
baptized, and joined the Little Huston church in Bourbon county. 
He emigrated to St. Louis in the autumn of 1816, and commenced 
business under flattering prospects. His character for industry, 
sobriety, and unwavering integrity in business, soon gained him the 
confidence and esteem of the citizens. He became one of the con- 
stituents of the Baptist church; was soon after elected deacon, and 
took a deep and active interest in all its aS'airs. 

In the autumn of 1820, he gave possession of his position to Mr. 
Thornton Grimsley, whom he raised, and removed his family to St. 
Charles. ' He died of a malignant bilious fever on the 15th of Sep- 
tember, 1822, aged forty-one years. 

By his death the church in St. Louis lost one of its main pillars, 
society one of its brightest ornaments, the cause of truth and justice 
one of its firm supporters, the poor and afilicted a sympathizing 
friend, his surviving widow a tender and aS"ectionate husband, and 
his children a worthy parent. 

At the period of our arrival, there were two young men from 
Ireland who were Methodists. They are still living, and well-known 
to the citizens as the Messrs. W. and J. Finney. In the spring, two 
others came and remained for a time. In June, 1818, the late Bishop 



92 MEMOIR OF JOHN 31. TECK. 

McKendree made a transient visit and preached once in a building 
used as a court-room. The circuit preachers made several efforts to 
organize a class and bring St. Louis within the circuit, but without 
success. AVithout a room in which to hold meetings, and weekly- 
ministrations, nothing effective could be done. 

There was a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher and family who 
resided in the place and kept a small store. His name was Green 
P. Eice. He preached in our congregation and that of Rev. Mr. 
Giddings whenever he could get an opening. He appeared to be a 
good man, with promising talents, especially as an exhorter, and 
was very desirous of establishing a church of his own sect on what 
he considered very liberal principles of union. His doctrines would 
compare well with what I have occasionally heard from Baptists 
whose heads were muddy by a mixture of metaf^hysics with Bible 
truths. He spent some time in each sermon to show and prove 
that God had done all he could to save sinners, and, ergo, if they 
were not saved, the Lord w^as not to be blamed. The fair implica- 
tion of such notions is that if God had not done all he could to save 
sinners, he would have been the guilty one, and they, poor innocent 
creatures, would have suffered wrongfully. To such presumptuous 
nonsense and blasphemy are men driven by their vain efforts to 
reason about matters of faith. 

Mr. Rice left St. Louis for Edwardsville the next autumn. At a 
subsequent period we heard of him as a lawyer and a politician in 
Alabama. 

Rock Spking, III., February 2Sth, 1856. 



MR. PECK AND COLLEAGUE ACTIVE IN THE CAUSE. 93 



CHAPTER yill. 

Early Evangelizing Efforts in the West — Recollections of towns in 
Illinois and Missouri in 1818. 

Soon as Mr. Peck had sufficiently recovered from the illness 
^Yhich afifected him on his arrival at St. Louis, he and his col- 
league, with their accustomed vigor and enterprise, set them- 
selves to work in various ways to accomplish the important 
objects of their mission. They rented a school-room, and 
commenced teaching ; while for want of better accommoda- 
tions, they occupied the same room on the Sabbath and on 
Wednesday evening for preaching. In February, they con- 
stituted a small church. In April, they baptized several can- 
didates, for the first time, as they thought, using the Great 
River for the solemn burial of believers with Christ, in the 
ordinance sanctified by his example as well as his command. 
Yery soon they opened a subscription for building a church- 
edifice, and were greatly cheered by obtaining on it nearly 
three thousand dollars. In June, they had purchased an eligi- 
ble site and broken ground for the building. Public exercises 
appropriate to laying the corner-stone were duly attended. 
Their day-school flourished ; and not to be outdone by their 
Catholic neighbors, they determined, in the lower department 
of the school at least, to admit all who would come, whether 
they could pay for tuition or not. To enhance the interest and 
value of their seminary, Mr. Peck commenced courses of popu- 
lar lectures on topics of chief interest in elementary instruc- 
tion, which were well attended, and were continued from week 
to week for some time. In the meantime, they opened a 
Sunday-school for the instruction of colored children and 
adults, and were soon cheered with finding nearly one hundred 
names enrolled as pupils. The Holy Spirit's blessed influence 
was manifest in this school very graciously, and several were 



94 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

hopefully converted. Most of these colored people were 
slaves ; and though the missionaries were careful to admit 
none without the permission of their masters, yet when the 
religious influence began to manifest itself among them, the 
sons of Belial began to sound out the notes of remonstrance 
and alarm, and some were withdrawn from the school. Their 
success in other respects also awakened some denominational 
and other hostility, which for a time considerably retarded 
their progress. 

They sedulously endeavored to unite all Protestant Chris- 
tians in common endeavors for the advancement of the cause of 
Christ. For this purpose the monthly missionary concert was 
regularly attended as a union meeting, held alternately in 
Kev. Mr. Giddings' school-room (which was also his preaching- 
place) and their own. The Cumberland Presbyterians and 
Methodists, when visiting St. Louis, were often accommodated 
(as they had then no preaching-place) by the Baptist brethren 
with the use of their own place of worship, even when they 
would have preferred to occupy it themselves, so anxious were 
they to present as unbroken a front as .possible to the pre- 
dominant Romanists. 

Nor did they, by any means, confine their efforts to the place 
of their residence. Nearly every Sabbath, and often on the 
week-day, they would ride forth among the destitute settle- 
ments, and fulfill appointments for preaching which had 
been made for them, sometimes quite at a distance from 
St. Louis. Here is introduced the account of several tours 
for evangelizing purposes, as given by Mr. Peck, from his own 
journals. 

As these reminiscences are not confined to Missouri, it is time 
to pay a little attention to Illinois. Our first visit from St. Louis 
to this territory was to the Badgle^^ settlement, in St. Clair county, 
on the 20th and 21st of Jmie, to attend the meeting of Ogle's Creek 
chm'ch. This was one of several little churches that had originated 
from a general rupture among the churches on the western side of 
this territory in 1810. At tlie period of our visit, there were three 
parties of Baptists in Illinois that had about the same fraternal in 



CHURCH MEETINGS — STATE ORGANIZATION. 95 

tercourse with each other as the Jews and Samaritans of the old 
time. Ostensibly the question of correspondence with slaveholding 
churches in Kentucky was the bone of contention ; but the fact is 
there were a few impracticable men who aspired to be leaders, who 
had been quarrelsome from the beginning. We have the old records 
of half a dozen of these churches, which have been extinct for a 
long time, and these tell a monthly story of bickerings, '" hurts," 
and complaints — imperfect as these records were kept. Among the 
singular and mischievous ''rules" introduced, one was requiring a 
unanimous vote on all matters " touching fellowship." This was 
called "working by oneness." One selfish or headstrong man or 
woman could keep a httle church in a state of turmoil for a twelve- 
month: an admirable method of keeping "the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace." Allied to this was a rule of decorum which, 
whether written or unwritten, was always put in force by a class of 
preachers. Upon the opening of church-meeting, the first question 
was to inquire " if all were in peace." This, when practically trans- 
lated, always meant : " Now, brethren, think over your grievances 
and ' hurts,' and see if you can furnish any cause of complaint 
against a brother or sister." It is astonishing to notice what trifling 
things made these "hurts :" for this was the slang term to express 
their grievances. The most frivolous and insignificant charges 
would get into the church through this back-door. It is really 
Providential that not one of these litigious communities have had 
a permanent existence ; but the effects of the spirit indulged and 
the habits formed remained a long time, to the grievance and an 
noyance of pure Christianity. AVe preached twice on this visit, 
and was kindly received. 

Our next visit to Illinois was on business, but it was at the old 
town of Kaskaskia, and during the session of the convention, then 
organizing a State Government. I rode on horseback along the 
American Bottom, through the ancient village of Cahokia (or as 
called by the Jesuit missionaries, '■'Notre Dame des Kahokias") 
Adjacent to it, on the south side of the creek that came in from 
the bluffs and gave its name, was the little hamletyDf Prairie dio 
Pont. The "Caoquias" and " Tamaroas" Indians occupied these 
villages when Charlevoix visited them in 1721. Here were located 
two ecclesiastics from the Seminary of Quebec, who had been stu- 
dents under Charlevoix. I followed the trace leading over the hills 
of Monroe county to the old " Whiteside station," where I called 
on the venerable widow and received her hospitality. 

The Whiteside connection originated from Amherst county, Ya.j 



96 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

from whence they emigrated to Kentucky, and from thence to II- 
hnois and Missouri. Colonel AVilliam AVhiteside, who had died a 
year or two previous to my visit to his widow, though not a pubUc 
speaker, was a leader among the early Baptists in Illinois. His 
name occurs as clerk in the church, and other meetings, for many 
years ; and the neat plain hand he wrote, and the structure of his 
sentences, shows him to have been an able and useful clerk. He 
was also selected as a leader in the parties of defense, during the 
Indian assaults from 1786 to 1796. His house, with others attached, 
was a stockade-fort, and a protection to his neighbors for many 
years; and to this day, "Whiteside's Station" is a well-known lo- 
cality in the north part of Monroe county. 

An hour before sunset found me at the hospitable residence of 
James Leman, Sr. It was a sort of half-way house between St. Louis 
and Kaskaskia — a common stopping-place or house of " private en- 
tertainment" to all travelers. I had previously formed an interest- 
ing acquaintance with Rev. James Lemen, Jr., as he then wrote his 
name, and who was then in Kaskaskia, in the convention, engaged 
in framing a code of fundamental laws for the State. The old people 
who had emigrated from Western Virginia to the Illinois country 
in 1786, and were among the first converts ever baptized in this 
remote wilderness, did not seem to be burdened by age. They were 
hale and vigorous persons, perhaps a little over fifty years, and ex- 
hibited the marks of health and constitutional" vigor. Two or three 
stalwart men, with large bone and muscle, six feet high, stood 
around. I learned they were two of the youngest sons, and one a 
son-in-law. The appearance of these persons, with that of others 
seen on this route, has any thing else than evidence of a sickly 
country. The men and women who were born here, and had grown 
to manhood on these prairies, had large, robust frames, healthy con- 
stitutions, and gave proof direct of health. What was it for them, 
if an occasional shake of the ague, or a touch of the autumn inter- 
mittent annoyed them for a few days ? Since that period I have 
gathered statistics of those and hundreds of other families among 
the early American settlers that prove, past contradiction, that 
Illinois and Missouri, off" the rivers and out of the low bottoms, are 
the healthiest regions witliin the United States. 

Our conversation was chiefly religious. Elder Lemen was frank, 
open, very decided in his way ; but kind, benevolent, and conscien- 
tious. He preached nearly every Sabbath, and often rode thirty or 
forty miles to -visit destitute settlements. He and family, and many 
others who lived in this settlement, had their membership in Can 



PRAIRIE DU ROCHER — KASKASKIA, 97 

tine (now Bethel) church, in the north part of St. Clair county. 
The distance was thirty-six miles, which they rode on horseback. 
The meetings were held on alternate months in Cantine, and New 
Design settlements, the first Saturday and Sabbath in each month ; 
and for more than ten years, neither sickness, bad w-eather, much 
less indolence, prevented the regular attendance at the church- 
meetings, which never included less than two days at each meeting. 

Old Mr. Lemen was a man of relnarkable punctuality. Family- 
prayer was attended regularly, evening and morning. During his 
absence on his preaching excursions, or at any other time, his wife 
performed this duty. The two youngest sons, the able-bodied men 
already mentioned, were not then professors of rehgion. Another 

, but he had become wild and wayward, and w^as in an excluded 

state. As the customary hour drew near for family-worship, both 
parents requested the writer to pray for these sons, while tears and 
sobs expressed their strong, pious, parental feelings. 

Next morning found me pursuing a lonely, but pleasant route, 
for sixteen miles, without a house, to the French village of Prairie 
du E-ocher. This village was located about 1745, along the Ameri- 
can bottom and a small, sluggish creek adjacent to an immense' 
range on Chfi" Kock, from whence its name. In 1766, it had four- 
teen families. It is a low, unhealthy situation, and about three 
miles to the southeast of the ruins of old Fort Chartres. One in- 
cident in this village deserves notice. The Jesuit missionaries were 
ordered home by their superior-general, from the Illinois country, 
about the time of its coming under the British Government in 
1765. Father Meurain was the last, and he was ordered away, but 
at the urgent request of the Kaskaskia Indians he returned and 
became their father-confessor. He died at a very advanced age in 
Prairie du Kocher in the year 1778. He was a learned man, and 
left a valuable library and a manuscript dictionary of the Indian 
and French languages in twenty-four volumes. 

Our business at Kaskaskia had no connection with government 
affairs, and we spent only one night. We called at the only hotel 
kept in the place, by Mr. Bennett, who subsequently became a pio- 
neer in Galena. We had a shght acquaintance with him at St. Louis, 
but he regretted to inform me that he did not think it possible to 
accommodate me. Every room was occupied, and every bed had 
two or more lodgers. I laughed at his scruples, and told him I was 
a real missionary, and could camp on the floor with my saddle-bags 
for a pillow. At last it occurred to him that one of his beds had 

but one occupant that night, the fellow-lodger being absent. It 
9 



93 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

was a small room, and the bed, none too wide for two, was occu- 
pied by Adolphus Frederick Hubbard, Esq., one of the delegates 
from Gallatin county. Mr. H. had seen me in Shawneetown, and no 
sooner was my name announced to him by the landlord than he in- 
sisted I should share the hospitality of his bed. Being thus made 
comfortable, I learned from my room-mate something of the prog- 
ress made in the construction of the new Government. There are 
a few incidents, gathered at a subsequent period, that may be ad- 
mitted in these reminiscences. 

In the formation of new States, from territorial possessions under 
the Government of the United States, but one uniform rule was 
observed in the pristine period of our national history. Congress, 
under the authority of the Constitution, exercised the entire powers 
of government. The first step after marking out the boundaries 
of a new territory was to endow the Governor and Judges with the 
authority to make a code of laws for the people. Soon as the gov- 
ernor saw the population and orderly habits of the people justified 
the measure, he made proclamation, and authorized the election of 
the House of Eepresentatives. This body came together and nomi- 
nated certain citizens — twice the number to which they were entitled 
— for a " council," or Senate. These names were sent to the Presi- 
dent, who made a selection, and brought them before the House for 
confirmation. The House and the Council constituted the territo- 
rial Legislature. In this mode the territories of the Northwest, 
Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Orleans (now Louisiana), Upper Lou- 
isiana (afterward Missouri), and Arkansas, came into existence. 
Each of these territories became a State by virtue of a special 
charter from Congress ; conventions were elected by qualified voters ; 
a constitution adopted, and each was received as one of the States in 
union. Arkansas was an exception in forming a State government. 
The people, without law, formed a constitution in 1836. It was a 
period of the prevalence of a spurious democracy or rather anarchy, 
which sets at defiance all law, and claims what no person has any 
right, or can possess under a government of laws — that oi popular 
sovereignty. No such fallacy exists, or can exist, wherever the 
boundaries and laws of a State, an organized territory, or the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States exist. 

But to return to Illinois. The territory had been divided into 
fifteen counties, wjiich, according to population, sent thirty-two 
delegates. St. Clair county being the oldest and most populous 
sent three ; Madison and Gallatin, being next in population, sent 
also three each. 



ILLINOIS STATE ORGANIZED. 99 

Madison, Bond, and Crawford were the three northern connties 
across the State. All north was a wilderness, and one-half of the 
territory then was supposed to be uninhabitable. By a grant in 
the charter of 1787, of the Northwestern Territory, five States, 
within prescribed limits, could form constitutions and be admitted 
into the Union upon evidence of sixty thousand inhabitants ; but on 
a special act of Congress the same district could form a State gov- 
ernment on evidence of forty thousand population. Illinois, by its 
territorial legislature, the preceding winter petitioned Con<jress, 
and the charter was granted for forty thousand. Marshals were 
appointed in all the counties to take the census. As the period of 
their labors drew nigh, it became doubtful whether the requisite 
number could be obtained. The public roads leading across the 
territory were watched ; famiUes were found that were said to have 
been missed ; and after every effort to make up the number, it was 
officially?- proclaimed that the requisite number, with some two or 
three hundred surplus, had been found. The emigration that season 
was large ; and no doubt, before the constitution was submitted to 
Congress in December, some three or four thousand additions were 
made to the population. 

Elias Kent Kane, Esq., of Kaskaskia, a man of superior talents, 
made the draft of the Constitution. Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, of 
Cahokia, St. Clair county, was the presiding officer. William C. 
Greenup, Esq.,was Secretary to the body. In addition to Mr.Thomas, 
John Massinger, Esq., and James Leman, Jr., were the delegates 
from St. Clair county. The convention assembled at Kaskaskia in 
July, and closed their labors by signing the constitution they had 
framed, on the 26th day of August. 

In the month of September, I made two excursions into the set- 
tlements south and southwest of St. Louis. The first originated in 
a misunderstanding of both the time and place of the meeting of 
the Bethel Association. 

My first tour led me into the region about St. Michael, in what is 
now Madison county. I passed down the country, seeing only oc- 
casionally a log cabin, to Herculaneum, then a river town, landing, 
and a place of some importance. It then contained three or four 
stores and about thirty dwelling-houses. It was situated on the 
narrow, alluvial flat of the Joachim (called by the old settlers, 
Sivaslien.) The flat on which the village was laid off was narrow, 
and bounded at each end by perpendicular cliffs, rising two hundred 
feet high, and which formed cheap and natural towers for the manu- 
facturing of shot. The Flattin was another stream that entered 



100 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the Mississippi a short distance below the Joachim. On these 
streams were several water-mills and distilleries at that early period. 
Herculaneum at that day, and for several years after, was the depot 
for the lead trade of the interior. 

A few miles north, and which we passed as we came down the 
country, are sulphur springs, which at that period bid fair to be- 
come a watering-place when the country became settled. 

My route lay in a southwesterly direction, towards the heads of 
the Plattin, to McCormick's settlement. One object, never lost 
sight of in my travels, was to examine into the condition of schools ; 
and I found at least three-fourths of all the masters and schools 
were public nuisances, and ought to have been indicted by the 
Grand Jury. Mr. McCormick, an old settler in this range, and re- 
garded by all his neighbors as a sort of captain, to whom they 
looked for guidance, thoughabackwoodsman, with very little school 
education, had sound common-sense, and was determined to have 
a good school for his large family and the children of his neigh- 
bors. He enlisted some of his friends in Herculaneum to send him 
a " rale teacher," " none of those whisky-drinking Irishmen, such as 
got into our settlement last year, or, sure as I'm a Methodist, we'll 
lynch him !" So Mr. B., who knew "how the land lay" in that set- 
tlement, sent out a Mr. Bellknapp, just from Connecticut. Mr. B. 
was an experienced teacher, and being a man of observation and 
strong common-sense, he soon found out how to manage some 
thirty or forty stalwart young men and women. 

Introducing myself and my object to Master B., I was invited 
into one of the most primitive school-houses then to be found in 
the Territory of Missouri. I was pleased with the regulations, and 
the pupils were evidently in favor of the teacher, and they were 
making good progress under his instructions. 

Leaving the school-house I called on Mr. McCormick, had my 
horse fed, and took dinner. The only preaching in the scattered 
settlements among the hills was by the Methodists. The country 
for many miles was very hilly, and the road I traveled a mere bridle- 
path — that is, a trail for a single horse. I could learn nothing of 
any Baptist association. Night found me at a Mr. Hale's, who kept 
a house of private entertainment on the wagon-road from Mine-au- 
Burton to Ste. Genevieve. Mr. H. was a Methodist, and could tell 
me of all the Methodist preachers and meetings in that part of the 
territory, but knew nothing of Baptists. Finally he proposed to 
give me directions in the morning to a Baptist family who lived a 
few miles off the main road, which I could reach by travehng 



A SQUATTER FAMILY. 101 

through a '' hurricane" of two or three miles in extent. Now let 
the reader know that a "hurricane" is a tract of timber over which 
a tornado has passed, crushing all the trees, and throwing them in 
every direction. 

Next morning, ere the sun appeared, I was on my horse following 
a devious horse-trail over logs and through brushwood. About two 
years previous, large hickory, oaks, and other timber, two or three 
feet in diameter, had been twisted from the stump, often splintered 
for fifteen or twenty feet in height, and then thrown in every direc- 
tion. The width in a direct line did not exceed one mile ; but the 
pathway was so devious, and it was so difficult for the horse to 
jump over the fallen timber, that two hours time passed away be- 
fore I gained the distance. 

About nine o'clock I found the family to which I was directed. 
As this family was a specimen of the squatter race found on the 
extreme frontiers in early times, some specific description may 
amuse the reader, for I do not think a duplicate can now be found 
within the boundaries of Missouri. The single log-cabin, of the 
most primitive structure, was situated at some distance within the 
cornfield. In and around it were the patriarchal head and his wife, 
two married daughters and their husbands, with three or four little 
children, and a son and daughter grown up to manhood and woman- 
hood. The old man said he could read but " mighty poorly." The 
old woman wanted a hyme book, but could not read one. The rest 
of this romantic household had no use for books or "any such 
trash." I had introduced myself as a Baptist preacher, traveling 
through the country preaching the gospel to the people. The old 
man and his wife were Baptists, at least had been members of some 
Baptist church when they lived " in the settlements." The " set- 
tlements" with this class in those days meant the back parts of 
Virginia and the Carolinas, and in some instances the older sections 
of Kentucky and Tennessee, where they had lived in their earlier 
days. But it was " a mighty poor chance" for Baptist preaching 
where they lived. The old man could tell me of a Baptist meeting 
he had been at on the St. Francois, and could direct me to Elder 
Farrar's residence near St. Michael. The old woman and the young 
folks had not seen a Baptist preacher since they had lived in the 
territory some eight or ten years. Occasionally they had been to 
a Methodist meeting. This was the condition of a numerous class 
of people then scattered over the frontier settlements of Missouri. 
Ilie "traveling missionary" was received with all the hospitality 
the old people had the abiUty or knew how to exercise. The younger 



102 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

class were shy and kept out of the cabin, and could not be per- 
suaded to ccnie in to hear the missionary read the Scriptures and 
offer a prayer. There was evidence of backwardness, or some other 
propensity, attending all the domestic arrangej;ncnts. It was nine 
o'clock when I reached the squatter's cabin, and yet no prepara- 
tions had been made for breakfast. The beds, such as they were, 
remained in the same condition as when the lodgers first crawled 
from their nests in the morning. The young women appeared list- 
less. Their heads, faces, hands, clothing, all indicated slothfulness 
and habitual neglect. Soon the old woman made some preparations 
for breakfast, and as the culinary operations were performed out 
of doors, very probably the younger women assisted, but no other 
female entered the cabin but the old lady. In an hour's time her 
arrangements within cominenced. 

Not a table, chair, or any article of furniture could be seen. 
These deficiencies were common on the frontiers ; for emigrations 
from the " settlements" were often made on pack-horses, and no 
domestic conveniences could be transported, except the most indis- 
pensable cooking-utensils, bedding, and a change or two of clothing. 
But the head of the family must be shiftless indeed, and void of all 
backwoods' skill and enterprise, who could not make a table for 
family use. There were two fashions of this necessary article in 
the time to which I refer. One was a slab, or " puncheon," as then 
called, split from a large log, four feet long, and from fifteen to 
eighteen inches wide, and hewn down to the thickness of a plank. 
In this were inserted four legs, after the fashion of a stool or bench, 
at the proper height. The other was a rough frame, in which posts 
were inserted for legs, and covered with split clapboards shaved 
smooth, and fastened with small wooden pins. We found one of 
these descriptions of tables in hundreds of log cabins Mhere neat- 
ness, tidiness, and industry prevailed. 

Our landlady having nothing in the shape of a table, substituted 
a box. On this she spread a cloth that might have answered any 
other purpose than a table-cloth. The table furniture was various. 
For knives, t\fo or three hunting-knives answered. The plates were 
broken or melted pewter ones, except a single earthen one with a 
notch broken out, which, with a broken fork, was placed for the 
" stranger" to use. We could readily have excused the kind old 
lady for this extra trouble ; for, being dim-sighted, in washing, or 
more strictly in wiping it, she had left the print of her fingers on 
the upper surface. 

The viands now only need description to complete this accurate 



BACKWOODS LIFE. 103 

picture of real squatter life. The rancid bacon when boiled could 
have been detected by a foetid atmosphere across the yard, had 
there been one. The snap-beans, as an accompaniment, were not 
half-boiled. The sour buttermilk taken from the churn, where the 
milk was kept throughout the whole season, as it came from the 
cow, was " no go." The article on which the traveler made a hearty 
breakfast, past ten o'clock in the morning, was the corn, boiled in 
fair water. 

According to universal custom among the squatter race, the men 
eat first, the women followed, and, if the company were numerous, 
the youngsters and children followed in regular succession. 

We give this portraiture as a fair specimen of hundreds of fami- 
nes we found scattered over the extreme frontier settlement in 
1818-19. 

Pursuing our route, we left appointments to preach on our return 
in Cook's settlement in the day-time, and in Murphy's settlement 
Sabbath night. And in passing from Cook's to Murphy's settle- 
ment, Sabbath afternoon, who should we meet but the identical 
family of squatters where we had taken breakfast, with an old wagon, 
a pair of steers, two old horses which the women and children rode, 
with their " plunder," moving to the southwest, on the waters of 
Big Black. The day I left, some newly-arrived immigrant came 
upon them, bought out their '* crap" and claim for the old wagon and 
yoke of steers, and they were on their way to Big Black, where 
a few squatters and bear-hunters had commenced a new settlement. 

On the 25th September, 1818, I set out on horseback the second 
time to find the Bethel Association. Tlie route was the same one 
I last traveled until I got below Herculaneum, and then gradually 
bearing to the left and down the direction of the Mississippi, through 
an extensive tract of barrens very thinly settled. It was in passing 
through these barrens that Joseph Piggott, a Methodist circuit 
preacher, in the year 1820 came near freezing to death, in an ex- 
tremely cold night, and without food for himself or his horse. He 
gave the writer a narrative of his suff'erings that night, four years 
after, at his residence on the Macoupin, III, and yet we were so 
hard-hearted as not to express a word of sympathy. A few stunted 
and gnarled trees, and a sprinkHng of brushwood, Avith now and 
then a decayed log, appeared above the snow. He was nearly chilled, 
after wandering about a long time in search of a path ; and with 
great difficulty, with his tinder-box, flint and steel, could he get a 
fire. He then scraped away what snow he could, and with his blanket 
lay down, broadside to the fir e ; but before he secured much warmth 



104 • MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the other side was nearly frozen. Then he would turn over, but 
finding no relief, would get up, stamp his feet, while the wind seemed 
to pass through him. AVhen daylight appeared, he was too cold to 
mount his horse, but led him while he attempted to find his way on 
to some lonely cabin which proved to be not many miles distant. 
There he spent the day and enjoyed the hospitality of the squatter 
family. We listened to the distressing tale with amazement ! This 
man was born and raised in Illinois, and accustomed all his life to 
the frontiers, and yet had never learned one of the indispensable 
lessons of a backwoodsman — how to camp out, make a fire, and keep 
warm. Eating was not so very important ; for any man in the 
vigor of life, in those days in this frontier country, who could not 
go without food for twenty-four hours, and more especially a preacher 
of the gospel, ought to be sent back, where he came from, to the 
kind care of his friends. 

The writer had not been in the country one year before he had 
learned half a dozen lessons in frontier knowledge of great value in 
practical life. One branch was how Indians, hunters, surveyors, and 
all others who had to travel over uninhabited deserts, made their 
camping-place, and kept themselves comfortable. The first thing 
is to select the right place, in some hollow or ravine protected from 
the wind, and if possible behind some old forest giant which the 
storms of winter have prostrated. And then, reader, don't build 
your fire against the tree, for that is the place for your head and 
shoulders to lie, and around which the smoke and heated air may 
curl. Then don't be so childish as to lie on the wet, or cold frozen 
earth, without a bed. Gather a quantity of grass, leaves, and small 
brush, and after you have cleared away the snow, and provided 
for protection from the wet or cold earth, you may sleep comfort- 
ably. If you have a piece of jerked venison, and a bit of pone with 
a cup of water, ^^^ou may make out a splendid supper, provided you 
tliink so ; " for as a man thinketh, so is he." And if you have a 
traveling companion, 3^ou may have a social time of it. So now 
offer your prayers like a Christian, ask the Lord to protect you, 
wrap around you your blankets with your saddles for pillows, and 
lie down to sleep under the care of a watchful Providence. If it 
rains, a very little labor, with barks or even brush, with the tops 
sloping downward, will be no mean shelter. Keep your feet straight 
to the fire, but not near enough to burn your moccasins or boots, 
and your legs and whole body will be warm. The aphorism of the 
Italian physician, which he left in a sealed letter as a guide to all 
liis former patients, when he was dead, contains excellent advice to 



STE. GENEVIEVE. 105 

all frontier people : ''Keep your feet warm, your hack straight, and 
your head cool, and hid defiance to the doctors.^^ 

I got about half-way through the tract of barrens between Her- 
culaneum and Ste. Genevieve, and stopped at a small cabin, where 
I got such refreshment for " man and beast," and such lodging as 
its inmates could furnish. Before noon the next day I was passing 
through Ste. Genevieve. 

As this was the first visit I made to this ancient town, I ma'y as 
well give a brief sketch of its early history. 

Ste. Genevieve is the oldest French village in Missouri. When 
Lalede and the Chouteans came from New Orleans to establish a 
trading-post at St. Louis, in 1763, they stopped at Ste. Genevieve, 
which contained about twelve or fifteen families, in as many small 
cabins, but finding no warehouse or other building in which they 
could store their goods, they went on to Fort Chartres and wintered. 
We date the commencement of Ste. Genevieve as a village from the 
period of the erection of Fort Chartres, the second, about 1756. 
Tery probably there were previous to this, as there were in the 
lead-mining districts, what are called in patois-French, cahanes, a 
term, expressing the idea of "shanties," a cluster of shelters for 
temporary purposes. Such cabanes were in the lead-mining district 
when Philip Francis Renault had his exploring parties out at various 
points in the upper valley of the Mississippi. And, by the way, I 
find no evidence that lead-mining was followed in the mining-coun- 
try after Renault, disappointed, and a " broken merchant," quit the 
business about 1740, until the possession of Illinois by the British 
about twenty-five years thereafter. Many of the French inhabitants 
who held slaves left the Illinois country ; some w^ent to the newly- 
established town of St. Louis ; others to Lower Louisiana. Many 
famihes also went to the lead mines in Missouri, while others stopped 
at Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon with their servants. This gave 
an impulse to the former town, which before 1770 became the depot 
and shipping-port for the lead business. The French at St. Louis, 
as a iLom-de-nique, called Ste. Genevieve Misers, as they did Caron- 
delet Vide Poche ; and in their turn received the nick-name of 
Pain Court, to indicate they were short of bread. 

The old town of which I am writing was near the Mississippi, 
and about one mile below the ferry and landing. From this point, 
where the rock forms a landing, for seven miles down the river, w^as 
an extensive tract of alluvial bottom about three miles in width. 
On this rich alluvion the French of Ste. Genevieve and New Bour- 
bon made one of the largest "common fields" to be found along the 



106 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Upper Mississippi. It contained within the common inclosure from 
three tliousand to four thousand acres. The repeated inundations 
of high water, and especially the great flood of 1784, drove the in- 
habitants to the high ground in the rear, where they built the old 
residences of the new town, or the existing Ste. Genevieve. Each 
successive flood tore away the rich bottom along the river, until 
that of 1844 about "used up" the great common field of the village. 
No passenger in passing up or down the great expansive bend of 
the river would hardly realize that the largest steamers now float 
in a channel that is more than two miles from the Mississippi river, 
as it ran in 1780. 

Protestant Christianity has had but feeble influence in this 
ancient French village. 

Having no time to tarry, we found our way by the Saline works 
"(where General Henry S. Dodge was manufacturing salt in the bar- 
rens of Perry county, then known far and near as the name of this 
tract of country) to the house of Mr. Duvol, where we arrived Sat- 
urday evening after sunset. One day of the Association was over, 
and though an entire stranger, and excessively fatigued from our 
long ride, no excuse would be taken : we must preach : and preach 
we did, a missionary discourse, ofif-hand, from Isaiah xlix. 20. Here 
were two preachers from the Boone's Lick country, William Thorp, 
and Edward Turner, who were messengers of correspondence from 
the Mount Pleasant Association, then recently formed. They were 
among the earliest settlers in that far-out-of-the-way region. Thorp 
(we think) came there from Kentucky in 1810, and Turner soon 
after. Of course, they knew not a single fact about missions, nor 
any Ihing correctly of the progress of the kingdom of Christ on 
earth, or of its destiny. A set of crude and erroneous notions had 
been stereotyped in their minds, in Kentucky, about gospel doctrine 
and moral obligation, and they were fixedly resolved to learn noth- 
ing else. Having come from a new association to solicit correspond- 
ence, and perceiving the writer was received with great promptitude 
as a visitor, and invited to preach on the spot before the association, 
which held a night-session, they were not openly hostile. They 
only whispered about among a few of the brethren, and shook their 
heads doubtingly. For several successive years we met those breth- 
ren at associations, when they took a bolder and more decided 
stand against all organized efforts to publish the glad tidings to a 
sin-ruined world. They maintained that missions, Sunday-schools, 
Bible societies, and such-like facilities, were all men's contrivances, 
to take God's work out of his own hands. Their views of the plan 



BETHEL ASSOCIATION — MISSIONS. lOt 

of salvation through Christ were exceeding limited and imperfect, 
and their success was quite as limited as their Biblical knowledge 
was deficient. 

The Bethel Association this year consisted of five churches and 
eight ordained ministers. The churches were Bethel, Tywappity, 
Providence, Barren, St. Francois, Dry creek and Salem. The last 
had been constituted on Fourche-a-Thomas, in Arkansas, and was 
the first church ever gathered in that region. It had two minis- 
ters (Benjamin Clark and Jesse James) and twelve members. Mr. 
James disappeared from the minutes in after years, as we suppose 
by death, but Mr. Clark lived and labored in that desolate region 
for many years with great self-denial, zeal, and success. In the 
early period of the Home Missionary Society, we obtained for him, 
as we did for many other laborious frontier preachers, an annual 
perquisite of one hundred dollars, and mission funds were never 
better laid out. The last we heard of this excellent brother was 
a vag«e»rumor that he had gone to Texas. >, 

The Bethel Association had held a correspondence with the Little 
River Association in Kentucky. That year the messenger was 
Josiah Home, who preached an excellent sermon on the Sabbath. 
On the preceding session the association had taken up the subject 
of Foreign Missions, having received an annual report of the Board. 
They now had a regularly-appointed missionary under the Board, 
as their visitor, and seemed disposed to use him freely. We copy 
from the minutes : 

"The business relating to missions, postponed last year, was 
taken under consideration, and Brother Peck called on for informa- 
tion on the subject. Several interesting communications were read, 
a circular from the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions presented, 
and the great efforts of the Christian world to promote the cause 
of Christ stated, together with the views, proceedings, object, and 
success of the Baptist denomination generally in this great and 
good work ; 

''Therefore, resolved, That Elder Thomas P. Green (near Jackson, 
Cape Girardeau county) be our Corresponding Secretary, to open a 
correspondence with the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, trans- 
mit to their secretary a copy of our minutes, and receive communi- 
cations from them." 

The missionaries at St. Louis, after conferring with their friends, 
had concocted the plan of a society, embracing such of the denomi- 
nation in Illinois and Missouri as chose to unite in it, the outline 



108 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. I'ECK, 

of a constitution was read, and the project explained. Upon this 
the following entry was made in the minutes : 

" Heard a plan, drawn up by Brother Peck, to promote the gospel 
and common-schools, both amongst the settlers and the Indians in 
this country, which plan, we think, would be highly useful, and 
which we earnestly desire to see carried into effect ; 

" Therefore, resolved, That we view with pleasure the exertions 
of our brethren J. M. Peck and J. E. Welch, united in the Western 
Mission, to spread the gospel and promote common-schools both 
amongst the whites and Indians, and that we recommend the above 
plan for the consideration of the churches and a liberal public. As 
Brother Peck engages to communicate an outline of the plan, it is 
hoped each church will consider it, and instruct their delegates 
against the next association." 

The plan and constitution of this society was brought before the 
Illinois Association, and approved by that body on the 10th of Oc- 
tober and by the Missouri Association on the 24th of the same 
month, where its organization was completed. 

As this was the first society ever organized west of the Missis- 
sippi for philanthropic and missionary purposes, some more details 
of the plan and proposed methml of operations are deemed ex- 
pedient. 

Name. — " The United Society for the spread of the gospel." 

Object. — To aid the "Western Mission" in spreading the gospel, 
and promoting common-schools in the western parts of America, 
both amongst the whites and Indians. 

Terms of Membership. — Persons of good moral character by pay- 
ing five dollars annually. Each [Baptist] association, contributing 
annually, could send two messengers. Each branch or mite society, 
church, or other religious society, contributing ten dollars annually, 
to send one delegate. 

Measures to be adopted. — The society, at its annual meeting, to 
consult on the best measures to promote the gospef and common- 
schools ; devise measures to assist ministers in obtaining an educa- 
tion, and to qualify school-teachers ; consider the moral and re- 
ligious welfare of the Indians, and devise means for their reform ; 
and use every means in their power to send forth missionaries on 
the frontiers and destitute settlements. 

Qualifications of Missionaries and School-teachers. — The first 
must be in full standing in the Baptist churches, and give satisfac- 
tory evidence of genuine piety, good talents, and fervent zeal in the 
Redeemer's cause. No person of immoral habits, or who, in the 



ANTI- MISSION BAPTISTS. 109 

juclg:ment of the Board, was not qualified, could be employed as a 
school-teacher. 

It was not expected the society would pay teachers among the 
white settlers, but to aid in introducing good ones, and thus encour- 
age the people in an entire reformation in the schools throughout the 
country. Thus the society, or rather its secretary, who also made 
extensive excursions as a general agent, by an extensive correspond- 
ence, found out where teachers were wanted and where the^^ could 
be had. It is not extravagant to say that in three years, by so 
simple and cheap an agenc}^ more than fifty good schools were es- 
tabUshed in Missouri and Illinois, where common nuisances, with 
drunken, illiterate Irish Catholics at the head, had before existed. 

Funds. — The funds of the society were included in three depart- 
ments : the Education fund, the Indian fund, and the Mission fund. 

Having failed in establishing an Indian school amongst a band of 
natives then located near the Pilot Knob, in Madison county. Mo., no 
further eff'ort was made for that object. The education-object made 
no demand for funds. Several missionaries in Missouri and Illinois 
were employed as itinerants, at the rate of expense of hired men, 
that is from sixteen to twenty dollars per month, according to 
locality. The labors of most were successful and performed with 
fidelity. Some received their compensation from voluntary con- 
tributions. The writ^er being under patronage of the Baptist Board 
of Foreign Missions made frequent collections without charge to 
the society ;* for which, a few years after, when a class of Baptists 
turned against their brethren, declared non-intercourse with all in 
favor of missions, Sunday-schools, etc., the slang of " money-begging 
missionary," "the gospel going on silver wheels," and "Judas hav- 
ing the bag," was reiterated from that class. One well-meaning, 
but short-sighted old preacher received seventeen dollars and 
twenty-five cents, for a month's itinerant service and traveling 
expenses. Hearing that he used this stereotyped slang, where he 
ought to have preached repentance towards God and faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ, we sent him word by a common friend, ac- 
knowledging our position analogous to that of Judas, who had been 
appointed treasurer of the company by the Divine Master. But who 

got the thirty pieces of silver ? Elder got seventeen dollars 

and twenty-five cents, for which we hold his receipt. It troubled 
tlie old man to no small extent when we turned the " silver wheels" 
upon him. 

There was an honest, but mistaken basis on which the objections 
against missions were founded. These preachers were quite de- 
10 



110 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ficient in correct and Scriptural views of church government. Its 
extreme simplicity, and the large liberty it gave to its members in 
their selection of objects, and divers modes of benefactions they 
did not comprehend. Associations were called ** advisory councils," 
but the advice had the effect of law. Hence, by a confused series 
of far-drawn inferences, they arrived at the conclusion that all other 
societies except churches and associations, not being specially 
thorized in the Scriptures, must be forbidden. 

Then in many minds crude antinomian notions were inter- 
mingled w4th scattered and detached fragments of gospel truth. 
They had no clear and correct notions of the connection of Divine 
purposes and means to accomplish them. Because God worked in 
us to will and to do his own pleasure, they had no conception of 
human duty and responsibility. There was a mulish obstinacy 
about some of these men, as there is about the same class now. 
They would not examine the subject candidly and prayerfully ; 
they shut their own eyes against the light, and as far as in their 
power kept the members of their churches in darkness. They made 
the singular blunder in denying the use of all means and instru- 
mentalities in the conversion of sinners and sending the gospel 
to the destitute, while they were active and zealous in using means 
and trying to be instrumental in opposing gospel measures. A third 
cause of this anti-mission spirit and practice among a class of preach- 
ers, originated in sheer selfishness. 

They knew their own deficiencies when contrasted with others, 
but instead of rejoicing that the Lord had provided better gifts to 
promote his cause, they felt the irritability of wounded pride, com- 
mon to narrow and weak minds. They got no compensation for 
their preaching ; but the smallest degree of power and influence 
over others is more precious than gold to such men. As an illus- 
tration of the nature and extent of this course of opposition to 
missions, I will narrate an incident that occurred in Sangamon 
county. 111., some five or six years after the date at the head of this 
article. 

A little association had been formed ; and after a hard struggle, 
and by a bare majority, an article was adopted of this purport : 

" It shall be the duty of the association to debar from a seat 
any Baptist who is a member of a missionary society." 

By a previous act they had made their articles of faith, and pro- 
vided that they could not be altered except by a unanimous vote, 
and then appended this little anti-mission and unscriptural rule by 
a majority of one to their articles of faith. At that time, and for 



ANTI-MISSION BAPTISTS. Ill 

ever after, there was a large majority of members in the churches 
opposed to the rule, but they could not rid the association of it, as 
long as ane selfish, crotchety member remained. The church where 
the association was held were to a man opposed to this rule ; and 
fearing it might prevent Baptist ministers from visiting them, a 
resolution was introduced to the purport that they would invite 
any orderly Baptist minister to preach for them, although he might 
be a missionary. To give full opportunity to investigate the sub- 
ject, the question was postponed one month. Fearing such an in- 
vestigation might expose the designs of the anti-mission party, 
four preachers rode from thirty to fifty miles to attend the church- 
meeting. It was in the month of February ; the creeks were high ; 
and two of these zealous visitors swam Sugar creek on their horses, 
at the risk of their lives. One of these men was quite a simple- 
hearted, weak brother, whose small mind was led by the others. 
But he loved to hear himself talk, while in a confused manner he 
uttered words that lacked ideas. He was interrupted by a motion, 
which was put by the moderator and decided in the affirmative, 
of this purport : 

" That Brother J n be requested to state explicitly his ob- 
jections against missionaries." 

His reply was honestly made, as follows : 

" We don't care any thing about them missionaries that's gone 
amongst them heathens 'way ofi" yonder. But what do they come 
among us for? We don't want them here in Illinois." 

The moderator rephed : "We live in a free country, and Baptist 
churches love liberty. We need not give them money unless we 
choose, and we are not obliged to hear them preach if we do not 

hke them. Come, Brother J n, let the church know your real 

objections." 

" Well, if you must know. Brother Moderator, you know the big 
trees in the woods overshadow* the httle ones ; and these mission- 
aries will be all great, learned men, and the people will all go to hear 
them preach, and we shall all be put down. That's the objection." 

- Indian Councils. 
On my return from the Bethel Association, I found the Rev. John 
Ficklin, from Kentucky, in town. He was on an agency from the 
Kentucky Mission Society to certain bands of Indians in Missouri, 
to obtain some of their children to commence an Indian school in 
that State. This was the embryo of the Indian school, subse- 
quently sustained by the national government, on the farm and 



112 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

under the supervision of the late Hon. R. M. Johnson, at the Blue 
Springs, Scott county. Mr. Ficklin was a self-sacrificing, zealous 
Baptist preacher, and for a long series of years was a member of 
Great Crossings church, and connected with the Elkhorn Associa- 
tion. He (with Mr. Short, his traveling companion) had made an 
excursion to several places in the territory, where bands of Indians 
resided, one of which was on the Fourche-a-Courtois in Washington 
county, another was at Indiantown between the Bourbeuse and Mer- 
rimac rivers. Here was a band of Shawanese and Delawares, called 
Rogers' band, from their chief or head man. Mr. Rogers was origi- 
nally a white man, taken prisoner in boyhood, and so trained in Indian 
habits and tactics, that in mind, temper, disposition, and inclina- 
tions, he was completely an Indian. He took for a wife a squaw, 
who was the daughter of a chief, and through his influence and his 
own superior talents he held the office of commander in that band. 
During the series, of wars between the Indians and white people, 
in their early migrations to Kentucky, Rogers commanded a ma- 
rauding party on the Ohio river, who displayed their prowess in 
plundering boats, and murdering the owners when they met with 
resistance. The victory of General Wayne, in 1794, alid the treaty 
of Greenville that followed, put an end to these depredations. Pre- 
viously to this period, however. Captain Rogers had accumulated 
wealth enough to satisfy the wants of himself and band, and ap- 
prehensive they might be trailed out by some of the war-parties 
of the whites, prudently migrated across the " Great River," and 
located themselves at Yillage-a-Robert, afterward called Owen's 
Station, and now Bridgton, in St. Louis county. 

Rogers had not lost all predilections for the lower grade of civili- 
zation. He had two sons, James and Lewis, who grew up to man- 
hood, and two or three daughters. One daughter married Cohun, 
a Delaware brave, and a fine, noble specimen of humanity. He 
was a man of strong sense, industrious, generous, and a firm friend 
to his white neighbors. 

When, and under what circumstances, Captain Rogers died, I never 
learned. His successor in office was Captain Fish, who also was one 
of- our race, but taken a prisoner when a small boy, and acquired 
the Indian character so perfectly, that a stranger would not have 
suspected his white blood. He married a daughter of Captain 
Rogers, and perhaps this connection tended to place him in office, 
which was for life. 

This band of Indians cultivated little farms. Captain Rogers 
took an act' ve part in getting up a school in the village, in which 



INDIAN COUNCILS. 113 

the American settlers united, and the white and Indian boys were 
at their books in school hours, and engaged with the bow and arrow 
and other Indian pastimes, during intermission. Amongst these 
scholars was the late Eev. Lewis Williams, who obtained his educa- 
tion in boyhood in this half-Indian seminary. 

About the time, or a little before the cession of Louisiana to the 
United States, Rogers and his band removed to the Big Spring at 
the head of the main Merrimac. Here the water suddenly bursts 
from the earth into a large basin from which flows a river more 
than fifty yards in width, and from two to three feet deep. It 
proved very sickly to the new-comers, and several died. I think 
probably Captain Rogers was of the number. Supposing they had 
intruded upon the dominion of a Matchee Monito, or Evil Spirit, 
they broke up their lodges, came down the country, and built their 
cabins on the borders of Indian prairie in Franklin county. This 
spot is a few miles south of Union. 

Captain Fish, the Rogers, and others, met Mr. Ficklin in St. Louis, 
where, on the first day of October, we held a talk about sending 
their children to Kentucky. Lewis Rogers, who could read and 
write as well as most of the frontier settlers, offered to go,. provided 
he could be permitted to take his wife and all his family with him. 
To this proposal Mr. Ficklin consented. These Indians were thrifty 
farmers, and brought the best cattle to St.Louis market the butchers 
had received. Next year, in company with Elder Lewis Williams 
and Isaiah Todd, I visited these Indians at their hunting-camps, 
some eight or ten miles above their town. We were treated with 
great hospitality. They heard favorable accounts from Lewis Rogers 
at the school in Kentucky, and consented to send on more of their 
sons. 

About the same time two large parties of Indians came to 
settle difficulties and make peace. These were on the one side 
Cherokees, with a few Delawares and Shawanoes ; and on the 
other side, Osages, or, more correctly, Wossoshes, as they pronounce 
their name. These two bodies had been at war for more than two 
years, and by the advice of their Great Father, the President of 
the United States, had met in presence of their good father (Gov- 
ernor Clark), who superintended the affairs of the Indians over a 
vast district of country. The ostensible cause of this war may 
serve to show that mistakes are made by commissioners, that 
eventually produce ruptures between Indian tribes. Indian bound- 
aries and Indian titles to particular tracts of country, among them- 
selves, unless established by the government that acts as their 



114 MEMOIR OF JOIIX M. TECK. 

common guardian, are vague things. Floods of sympathy have 
been poured out by those who know nothing truthfully about Indian 
titles, boundary lines, and Indian rights ; or their character, history, 
and habits. "Attachment to the graves of their fathers" is all 
poetry. From the earliest period that we can obtain any knowledge 
of this race, they have been migratory. 

In 1808, through the late Pierre Chotcau as United States Com- 
missioner, at Fort Clark, on the Missouri, a treaty with the Osages 
was negotiated, in which a line due south to the Arkansas was to 
become the eastern boundar3^, and down the Arkansas to the Mis- 
sissippi. These Osages some 3^ears after set up a claim to hunt on 
the lands south of the Arkansas. In 1808-9, the President entered 
into an arrangement with the Cherokees, for a portion of the nation 
who desired to remove westward, to exchange their lands east 
of the Mississippi for lands on the Arkansas river. They claimed 
the right of hunting indefinitely westward. The Osages, not liking 
these intruders,^ as they regarded them, broke up their hunting- 
lodges, and plundered them of their peltry. One depredation pro- 
voked another, until they came in collision ; murders were com- 
mitted ; and finally the Cherokees made a formal declaration of 
war. They took up the line of march in the spring of 1817, with 
two field-pieces, mounted and drawn by horses, and the men armed 
with rifles. The Cherokees were half-civilized, and understood and 
kept up military discipline ; and adopted into their nation were not 
a few " white skins," and the Shawanoes and Delawares. They 
made a rapid march into the Osage country, surprised them in 
their villages, made them run, killed a dozen or so, and took as 
many prisoners, chiefly women and children, whom at the time we 
are writing about they held as hostages. 

The Great Chief of the Cherokees, on the Arkansas, was a most 
venerable man named Tolrentuskee. He was one hundred years 
of age, and entirely blind. It was not his business at that advanced 
period of life, with his locks white as the mountain snow, to go out 
to war. This duty, his braves, commanded by an experienced war- 
rior, had performed under his authority. But his presence was 
indispensable to the ratification of peace. He had traveled on 
horseback from the Indian country on the Arkansas on a mission 
of peace, accompanied by a beloved daughter, who appeared about 
forty years of age. She was a pattern of fihal aff'ection ; for she 
led her venerable sire to and from the council-room, and waited on 
him with the greatest tenderness. 

The council between the tribes was held in the Indian office, in 



TOLRENTUSKEE — INDIAN COUNCILS. 115 

the presence and under the presiding influence of the late Governor 
Clark. Few men in the nation had so extensive an influence over 
the Indians, and so much tact in concihating as this Superintendent 
of Indian affairs. The parties were seated on opposite sides of the 
room ; the Governor, his aids, secretaries, and interpreters, around 
a table in the center ; and the spectators, who were invited guests, 
on elevated seats back. The Cherokees were first called on to ex- 
hibit their complaints against the Osages, and the latter to respond. 
The Osages had several talJcmg-hrsives, or those who claimed the 
gift, of Indian oratory. The whole speaking on the part of the Chero- 
kees, according to their usage, devolved on old Tolrentuskee ; and a 
more dignified, grave, sententious speaker we never heard. The 
intonations of his voice, and his occasional gesticulations, were 
peculiarly impressive. He told of an interview between the chiefs 
of the Cherokee nation with his Great Father Washington in Phila- 
delphia, in 1794. Though he was not then a great chief, he opened 
his ears to the lessons of the Great Father, who told the Cherokees 
war was not good ; it made people unhappy, and the Great Spirit 
became angry with his children. The Great Father told them they 
must leave ofi" war and plunder, cultivate the soil, raise corn and 
cotton, make good houses, and learn to talk from the book. His 
ears were opened wide, and every word of the Great Father sank 
into his heart. The same lessons had been taught them by the 
successive Great Fathers, and the Cherokees were fast learning the 
ways of the "VVhite-skins. They built houses hke their white neigh- 
bors ; they touched their motljer earth, and she gave them corn, 
and cotton, and other good things. These clothes I wear, my 
daughter who sits there and leads me in the dark, made for me. She 
grew the cotton in the field, and made the cloth. AVe do not desira 
to go on the war-path : it is not good. When we came across the 
Big river, our Great Father told us to Hve in peace with the Osages, 
and Kanzaus, and Quppaws, and all the other Ked-skins. We tried 
to do so, but the Osages came over the Arkansas to our hunting- 
grounds. They destroyed our lodges, stole our meat and skins, 
and killed and scalped some of our men. We sent them word to 
keep on their own side of the Arkansas, and not molest us ; but 
they grew worse. Bad birds flew through the air and told them 
hes ; and they stole our horses and other property, and killed more 
of our people. 

The venerable chief spoke an hour in rehearsing the depredations 
of the Osages, and proving the war on the part of the Cherokees 
was a necessity. His intellect was remarkably clear, and the tones 



116 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

of his voice melodious. The responses from the Osages were vari- 
ous, and a little contradictory. They claimed the country south 
of the Arkansas as their ancient hunting-ground, without producing 
any proofs from history or tradition. They regarded the Cherokees 
as intruders, because they came across the Big river. Tolrentuskee 
had alluded to the inferiority of the Osages in the war, and used 
an expression that stung to the quick one of the Osage braves, who 
proved himself to be not only a braggart, but a dastardly coward. 
He was a large, robust man, six feet in height, painted in true Indian 
style, with his head shaved close, only the scalp-lock being left, and 
this done up with long red feathers. Springing to his feet, and 
throwing off his blanket from his shoulders, with only his shroud 
around his waist, his eyes flashing resentment, addressing Governor 
Clark, as all the speakers had to do, he exclaimed : 

"My father, I'm a man — an Osage brave; my heart is big; I 
never quail before Red-skins ; I fear no Eed-skin ; I only bow in the 
presence of White-skins, my father" — at the same time making a 
somewhat awkward, but low obeisance. 

Captain Cohun was sitting in front of the writer ; and I saw by 
the curl of the lip, he was observing this Osage, and inquired: 
"Do you know him?" "Yes; that's the very fellow who pushed 
his wife off his horse when we drove them from the village, that 
he might run away. We have got his squaw among our prisoners." 

The Governor adjourned the council till the next day, without 
any settlement, advising each party to yield something. Next 
morning the Osages argued resolutely their right to the hunting- 
grounds north of the Arkansas, thus tacitly relinquishing all claims 
to the disputed country. Peace was made, and the treaty signed 
by each party, and witnessed by the spectators — the Cherokees 
promising to give up the prisoners, whom they held as hostages. 



MISSIONARY TOUR. H'JC 



CHAPTER IX. 

A Missionary Tour in Southern Missouri. 

On the 3d day of November I started from St. Louis, on horse- 
back, on a tour through a portion of the churches of Bethel Asso- 
ciation. Near the Merrimac I tarried with a Mr. Moore, who treated 
me hospitably, and furnished me with a buffalo skin, on which I 
lodged for the night very comfortably. The puncheon-floor, with 
a buffalo skin for a bed, and a saddle-tree for a pillow, furnished no 
mean lodging in those frontier times. 

Next morning, before the sun appeared, I was wending my way 
down the country, in company with two men from Strawberry, in 
the Arkansas country. AVe passed the sulphur springs, and Yan 
Zant's Mill, and rode on to Horine's, who kept a house of enter- 
tainment, for breakfast. For this and horse-feed, each traveler paid 
thirty-seven and a half cents — the customary fare, supper, horse- 
feed, and lodging for the night, was uniformly fifty cents. But if 
it was known the traveler was a preacher of the gospel, and en- 
gaged in that business, he was seldom charged, though the family 
might keep a house of entertainment as a means of support. 

I parted with my companions at Herculaneum, and followed a 
"bridle-trail" near the bluffs of the Mississippi, and through an 
immense tract of barrens-. In one place, amid the scattering and 
scrubby timber the fire was raging through the tall, dry grass, and 
even to the tops of dry trees. Beyond the fire, flocks of wild turkeys 
would start up and light on the trees, and the startled deer would 
bound away over the hills. 

I reached Ste. Genevieve at eight o'clock, and put up at Donohue's 
tavern. The landlord, with a company of gentlemen, was busily 
employed at the card-table. Seeing that my horse was made com- 
fortable, and getting quite an ordinary supper, I was successful in 
obtaining a private-room, a table and candle, and was occupied in 
writing until a late hour. One prominent object of my journeying 
was to carry into effect the missionary society already mentioned, 
and which was organized at the time of the Missouri Association 
on the 24th of October. " 

I had provided printed circulars, containing the constitution and 



118 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

other particulars, and these, with written letters, were sent off with 
appointments to preach on my return. At sunrise, the 5th, I was 
on my way down the country, and, after about fifteen miles ride, 
was at the cabins of General Henry S. Dodge, who was then a salt 
manufacturer at the Mississippi Saline. The Dodge family were from 
Connecticut, and anciently a family of Baptists. Doctor Israel 
Dodge, father to the gentleman whose hospitality I was sharing, 
came to Kentucky, and from thence to Yincennes, before the close 
of the last century. General H. S. Dodge, now the venerable sen- 
ator from Wisconsin, was born in that French village. A brother 
of Doctor Dodge, Elder Josiah Dodge, from the same State, settled 
in Kentucky, and was an efficient Baptist preacher. His brother, 
the Doctor, had migrated to Ste. Genevieve before 1794; for in 
February of that year Elder Josiah Dodge made him a visit, came 
over to the Illinois country, and baptized four persons in Fountain 
creek. 

The wife of General H. S. Dodge was a firm and zealous Baptist. 
She was a McDaniel, of St. Louis county, and joined the church in 
early life. After breakfast, and a season of devotion, I rode through 
the barrens to the place where I had attended the Bethel Associa- 
tion, as already narrated, to John Du Yol's, a Baptist, where I 
passed the night. In the vicinity the Roman Catholics were estab- 
lishing a college and a seminary for the education of priests. Next 
day I reached the town of Jackson about sunset, and from thence 
to Deacon Thos. Bull's house, where I was cordially received and 
hospitably entertained. Deacon Bull was one of the constituents 
and stated-clerk of Bethel church. He was an elderly man, plain 
and old-fashioned in habits, and a warm-hearted Christian. 

On the 7th (Saturday), I met the church in Bethel meeting-house. 
This was a log-building, rough in style, but quite as fashionable as 
any house of worship in the territory. Elder Wm. Street, who had 
come from a settlement down the St. Francois, had preached before 
my arrival. The church sat in order and transacted business. I 
then preached from Isaiah liii. 1, and Elder Jas. P. Edwards followed 
me from John xiv. 6. The people tarried during all these exercises 
with apparent satisfaction. Custom and common-sense are the best 
guides in such matters. Dinner was never thought of on meeting- 
days. The Cape Girardeau Society, auxiliary to the "United So- 
ciety," had already been formed in this vicinity, and there were 
more real friends and liberal contributors to missions in this church 
than in any other in the territory. Yet in a few years, by the 
formation of Jackson and two other churches from this, the death 



CAPE GIRARDEAU — BOLLINGER'S. 119 

of some valuable members and the removal of others, with the in- 
troduction of some members of a difierent spirit, Bethel church, 
the oldest in Missouri, had Ichabod written on her doors. It became 
a selfish, hfeless, anti-mission body. 

On Lord's-day, November 8th, I preached a missionary discourse 
to a large congregation, from Exodfls xxxiii. 15 : " If thy presence 
go not with me, carry me not up hence." A collection was taken, 
amounting to thirty-one dollars and thirty-seven cents. This was 
the second missionary collection ever made in Missouri ; the first 
was taken at the Missouri Association, on the 25th of October, of 
twelve dollars and twenty-five cents. 

At evening I rode to Jackson, and preached at the house of 
Hon. Eichard Thomas, where I was kindly and hospitably enter- 
tained. Mrs. Thomas and her daughters were members of Bethel 
church. 

I continued visiting the settlements and preaching to the people 
for several days. I visited Cape Girardeau and Eoss Point, and 
formed a Mite society at each place. On the 11th I preached again 
in Jackson, and aided in the organization of a Female Mite Society 
of seventeen members. Jackson at that time was the county-seat 
of Cape Girardeau county. It had been laid off" in 1815 ; and at 
the time of my first visit, according to the notes made on the spot, 
contained between sixty and seventy dwelling-houses, five stores, 
two shoemaker-shops, one tannery, and two good schools, one for 
males and the other for females. The population in and around 
Jackson were more moral, intelUgent, and truly religious than the 
people at any village or settlement in the territory. 

I was now about to leave Cape Girardeau county, in a northwest- 
erly direction, for St. Michael. The first prominent settlement was 
Bollinger's, the name of the leading patriarch. Mr. Bollinger and a 
number of other German families made their pitch here, under the 
Spanish Government, about the commencement of the present cen- 
tury. They were nominal Lutherans, but being destitute of a pastor, 
and without schools, they degenerated in religion, but were indus- 
trious farmers. Mr. Bollinger was a member of the Q rst Legislature 
under the State government, and subsequently either he or his son 
has been repeatedly a member. A few years since a new county 
was laid ofi" from Cape Girardeau and adjacent counties, and named 
after him. 

The first night after leaving Jackson, I stopped with a ^Methodist 
family — an elderly widow lady, her son, his wife and three children. 
At first I did not make known my profession, but commenced a 



120 MEMOIR or JOHN M. PECK. 

rcli<?ions conversation. I soon found that though members of the 
society, neither could explain how God could he just, sustain his 
law, and pardon sinners. At first they supposed he would do it 
for our prayers ; then for our reformation; and finally for our sin- 
cerity. This gave me a favorable opportunity to preach Jesus and 
him crucified, as the only way of pardon. They listened with pe- 
culiar interest ; begged me to stay, give out an appointment, and 
preach the same doctrine to their neighbors. But I had appoint- 
ments ahead, and left them at sunrise, after family-worship. My 
kind host would take nothing, though he kept a house for private 
entertainment, as one means of supJ)orting his family. 

After riding seventeen miles, under the affliction of a severe sick- 
headache, and calling on two families to rest, I reached Brother 
James James'cabin, near St. Michael, where I tarried. Here I found 
a venerable minister by the name of George Guthrie, formerly from 
Ohio, but now residing on the Mississippi, near the mouth of Saline 
creek. At night we both preached in St. Michael at the house of 
a Frenchman whose name was Labbe. Though raised a Catholic, 
he had renounced that fallacious system. His wife was a Baptist. 
Next day, the Providence church held their regular meeting in an 
old log-building called the block-house. Elder Guthrie and I both 
preached, and left time enough for the church to attend to its 
business. Next day, being Sabbath, we had the same arrangement. 
After preaching. Elder Farrar baptized two females. At night I 
preached again in the village of St. Michael. That village then was 
a very wicked place. 

The following week I visited and preached twice in Cook's settle- 
ment, and obtained thirty dollars, subscribed by seventeen persons, 
to have Elder Farrar visit them, and preach monthly. I had con- 
versed with the Elder, with Deacon James, and several other breth- 
ren, and found, if he could have one hundred and fifty dollars during 
the year, he could devote his whole time to the ministry. There was 
great destitution for fifty miles in each direction. Elder Farrar was 
a moderate preacher, but^ godly, praying man, poor in this world's 
goods, but his heart was in the work. He had truly a missionary 
spirit, of which he gave evidence till his death, which took place 
in 1829. Before I left this field, I had in subscriptions' over sixty 
dollars, and a fair prospect that the whole would be made tip. But 
there was ignorance of the most inexcusable kind, apathy, covet- 
ousness, and bigotry in the church. There was a minority of 
brethren of excellent spirit and desirous of seeing the plan carried 
into effect. Some weeks after my visit, the subject was taken up 



ST. FRANCOIS — ^ELDER STREET. 121 

in the church, which in fact had no business with it. The subscrip- 
tions were voluntary. No one was pressed to give any thing. The 
church, or at least the majority of the men who acted, were cer- 
tainly under the influence of the Evil One. Like the persecutors 
of Christ, they were blinded and knew not what they did. Ilie 
majority actually voted that the subscription-papers be brought 
forward and burnt ! The deed was done ! and I record this as the 
first overt act by the antinomian and anti-mission faction in Mis- 
souri. Nor have I ever heard in that State of as flagrant a viola- 
tion of Baptist rights and privileges as this. The elder and the 
dissenting brethren bore all this treatment with Christian meekness 
and patience, but the church has never prospered. 

On the 20th of November, in company with Elder Farrar, I 
started southward down the St. Francois river, to visit the church 
that was then the farthest south of any one in the Missouri Terri- 
tory. We rode over a rough, unbroken tract of country about 
twenty-five miles, and reached the cabin of Elder William Street 
after dark. This church bore the name of St. Francois. Its loca- 
tion could not have been far from the site of Greenville, the county- 
seat of Wayne, which was established long after my visit. This 
church was constituted July 11th, 1816, by the aid of Elders John 
Farrar and James P. Edwards. There were ten males and thirteen 
female members in the constitution. Elder William Street, who 
had been accustomed to address his neighbors, and keep up religious 
worship, was ordained by choice of the church the same day. One 
of the constituents was Jonathan Hubbell, who, as I learned from 
Elder Street, came into the country, and lived several years under 
the Spanish Government, near the present site of Jackson. Though 
never ordained, he preached to the people in a private way. He 
had been a Baptist for many years, and was one of the first who 
came into that part -of the territory. 

Both the Providence and Belleview churches were at first " arms" 
of Bethel church. Providence church was constituted in August, 
1814, by aid of Elders Wilson Thompson, John Farrar, and James 
E. Welch, from Kentucky, then a licentiate. The latter, by request, 
wrote their articles of faith and covenant. A year or more before 
this. Elder Farrar was ordained by Bethel church, aided by Elders 
Colden Williams (then a preacher in the church), and Fielding 
Wolfe from Kentucky. ^Ider Williams, shortly after this, was dis- 
missed from Bethel church, and migrated to the Boon's Lick coun- 
try, where I may notice him at a future time. 

On Saturday, November 21. the St. Francois church held the 
11 



122 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

monthly meeting in a rough log-cabin in the woods. The plan of 
the " United Society for the spread of the gospel," was laid before 
the church. Elder Street had the intelligence, kindness of heart, 
and Christian spirit, to comprehend the plan, and engage heartily 
in the work. Not another male member of this body of Christian 
professors understood or cared about the object. They were stupid, 
listless, and apparently indifferent to every thing. The people 
throughout these extreme frontier settlements were quite ignorant ; 
few could read, and fewer families had Bibles. They knew not the 
name of a single missionary on earth, and could not comprehend 
the reasons why money should be raised for the expenses, or why 
ministers should leave their own neighborhood to preach the gospel 
to the destitute. They manifested the same apathy in their worldly 
business. A small cornfield and a truck-patch was the height of 
their ambition. Yenison, bear-meat, and hog-meat dressed and 
cooked in the most slovenly and filthy manner, with corn-bread 
baked in form of a pone, and when cold as hard as a brickbat, con- 
stituted their provisions. Cofiee and tea were prohibited articles 
amongst this class ; for had they possessed the articles, not one 
woman in ten knew how to cook them. Not a school had existed. 
A kind of half-savage life appeared to be their choice. Elder Street 
and family appeared to be an exception ; and he was doing his best 
to raise his neighbors in the scale of civiUzation ; but he had a hard 
field to cultivate. Doubtless, in a few years, when the land came 
into market, this class of " squatters" cleared out for the frontier 
range in Arkansas. Elder Street remained ; others of more indus- 
try came in ; and some ten or twelve years later, we heard he had 
organized a Bible-class and Sabbath-school, and taught it with suc- 
cess. He was a moderate preacher, a spiritually-minded man, de- 
siring to do all the good he could. The last time we find his name 
on any document is as the preacher of St. Francois church, in the 
minutes of the Black River Association, of which he was Moderator 
in 1836. He died in 1843 or '44, at a very advanced age, probably 
near ninety. 

I returned home with Elder Farrar, Sabbath night. My route 
that week was through Doe Run and Belleview settlements, where I 
preached and introduced the plan of missions ; preached in several 
other settlements ; was detained two days by a violent stomi of 
rain, and preached at St. Louis on the 30th of November. 

One specific object, during my excursions through the territory, 
was to examine into the condition of the schools that existed, and 



IRISH SCHOOLMASTERS — CURIOUS CUSTOMS. 123 

.aid the people in procuring a better class of teachers than could 
generally be found. 

After having gained correct knowledge by personal inspection in 
most of the settlements, or by the testimony of rehable persons 
living in such remote settlements as I could not visit, the conclu- 
sion was that at least one-third of the schools were really a public 
nuisance, and did the people more harm than good ; another third 
about balanced the account, by doing about as much harm as good ; 
and perhaps one-third were advantageous to the community in 
various degrees. Not a few drunken, profane, worthless Irishmen 
were perambulating the country, and getting up schools ; and yet 
they could neither speak, read, pronounce, spell, or write the Eng-* 
hsh language. These agents were encouraged by the priests to go 
among the people. 

A custom prevailed extensively, which had existed in the Southern 
States from their early settlement, of turning out from the school- 
house the master at Christmas, and frequently at Easter. This 
custom can be traced back to the Feudal age in the mother country. 
It belonged to the rude sports and semi-riots encouraged by the 
Eomish priests and feudal lords, to keep the common people from 
thinking about their down-trodden condition. These mock-festivals, 
when the masses elected their "abbots of unreason," " bishops of mis- 
rule," so graphically depicted by Walter Scott, are illustrations of the 
anarchy permitted and even encouraged by the authorities in Church 
and State. The half-reformed English hierarchy under Elizabeth, 
James, and the Charleses, gave countenance to similar disorders to 
gratify the whims, caprice, and the low sensualities of the people, 
just as the priests, with their " file leader" in St. Louis, now encour- 
age and countenance the low vices and Sunday revehngs of their 
degraded subjects. 

The schoolmaster riot was a common occurrence in Missouri at 
the period of our date, and in not a few instances. The Irish mas- 
ters to whom we have alluded, loved their poteen dearly ; and fre- 
quently negotiated with the youngsters, who were ringleaders in 
misrule, for a ''treat." "Cherry-bounce," sweetened with honey, 
was the favorite beverage. The year before our tour South, men- 
tioned above, Mr. O'Flaherty, not a hundred miles from Ste. Gene- 
vieve, did more than his pupils exacted, the preceding Christmas. 
He procured a supply of cherry-bounce, whisky and honey ; and 
while he took his full share, distributed it so generously that one- 
half his pupils were made " orful sick," as their parents expressed 
it. Some had to be carried home, and the doctor called in ; while 



124 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

the master required a wide path, and made zig-zag tracks in reach- 
ing his lodging-place. He was turned out in fact by the indignant 
parents. 

Our eflforts were directed through the *' United Society" already 
mentioned, to find out well-qualified teachers, and recommend them 
to such settlements as would sustain them. This measure, fraught 
with no small benefits to the people, cost us nothing but a little 
trouble in corresponding and in our explorations. 

On the 6th of December, at night, agreeably to previous arrange- 
ments, I preached a missionary sermon in the Legislative Hall in 
St. Louis, from Mark xvi. 19, 20, and received a collection of twenty- 
*feix dollars and twenty-five cents for the "United Society," to sus- 
tain itinerant missionaries within the territory. This was the ficst 
collection for missions and the first sermon for that purpose iu 
St. Louis. 

A system of itinerant missions, or "circuit-preaching," as our 
Methodist friends call it, is the most economical and successful 
mode of supplying the destitute, and strengthening and building 
up feeble churches, that has been tried. It is truly the apostolic 
mode ; and if the finger of Divine providence ever pointed out a 
method adapted to the circumstances of new and sparsely-settled 
districts, it is itinerating or circuit missions. 

The new-fangled notion that has gotten into Baptist heads, and 
Baptist management of missions, that pastors of churches, and 
none but pastors, are the instrumentalities God has appointed to 
extend the borders of his kingdom, needs to be examined and 
brought to the test of the Scriptures and common-sense. 

"VVe know that bishops, or pastors,- were provided among the 
ascension-giftSj and elders, or pastors (not one merely), were ap- 
pointed in the apostolic churches. Their qualifications are specified 
in the epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus. But we find no re- 
port of the labors of this class of men. I should like some one to 
give a sketch of the doings and success of these bishops, and refer- 
ences made to the Scriptures where the history of these men's 
labors is recorded. The Acts of the Apostles contains a sketch of 
the labors of the apostles and evangelists ; but these were itinerants 
and traveled from church to church, from country to country, as 
pioneers in the gospel field. They planted and watered new churches, 
and taught them to look out among their members men who were 
able to preside over them. 



VISIT TO DANIEL BOONE. 125 



CHAPTER X. 

Tour to the Boone's Lick Country. 

Previous to this tour, and after consultation with Rev. Mr. Gid- 
dings and other friends, Mr. Welch and the writer first held a meet- 
ing with Mr. G. and drew up a plan for the Missouri Bible Society. 
An abortive effort had been made, at the visit of Messrs. Mills 
and Smith, to form such a society in 1814, but it proved a failure.* 
A public meeting was held in Mr. Gidding's school-room, on the 9th 
of December, and after a sermon by the writer from Psalm cxix. 97 : 
*' 0, how I love thy law : it is my meditation all the day," the soci- 
ety was formed. It was of course made auxiliary to the American 
Bible Society, from which we received a supply of Bibles and Testa- 
ments in the spring. I mention this as a point from which a system 
of efforts proceeded in supplying the destitute population through- 
out Missouri and Illinois. 

Having made provision for my family to reside in St. Louis dur- 
ing the winter, on the 12th of December I started on a tour on the 
north side of the Missouri river for two months. I left my family 
sick, but appointments had been sent forward ; and I knew of no 
other way for an itinerant missionary, but to go forward, meet his 
engagements, and trust his family and all things else to the disposal 
of that Providence who watches over the birds of heaven, numbers 
the hairs of each one's head, and has given assurance of being with 
his ministers always, even to the end of the world. Nor have I 
ever been disappointed in this exercise of confidence in the Divine 
government. 

From St. Charles, where I crossed the river amidst running-ice, 
my route lay through the scattering settlements near the river, 

* Rev. Samuel J. Mills and Rev. Daniel Smith, both natives of Con- 
necticut, were sent forth as explorers by the missionary societies of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, who traveled extensively in the Mis- 
sissippi valley, distributing the Scriptures and finding out the spir- 
itual wants of the new settlements. The latter, Mr. Smith, settled 
in Natchez, Miss., and the former, Mr. Mills, became the pioneer of 
the Colonization Society in founding Liberia in Africa. 



126 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

■where I had appointments day and night. The " old Boone's Lick 
trace" through the prairies was no route then for a missionary. 
After passing the tavern-stand of Nicholas Kuntz, a rough, wicked, 
and yet hospitable old German, the next pitch was '' Camp-branch," 
fifty miles above St. Charles, and the next Yan-Bibber's at Loutre 
Lick. I followed a bridle-path through the hills and bluffs near the 
river. At old Brother Darst's house in Femme-Osage settlement, 
I preached and formed a Mite society to aid the " United Society 
for the spread of the gospel." Here I was met by Flanders Callei- 
way, a leading member of the Baptist church near the mouth of 
Charette, called Friendship. His wife, an excellent woman, was 
Rebecca, the eldest daughter of Colonel Daniel Boone. After 
dinner we rode together a few miles to the cabin of Squire Boone, 
a nephew of Daniel. There has been a Squire and a Daniel in all 
the old Boone families I have been able to trace out. Daniel had 
a brother by the name of Squire. He had an uncle in Pennsyl- 
vania, who raised a large family of children, and amongst them 
were Daniel, Squire, and George. This coincidence of names in the 
Boone connection has made sad work in the " biographies" and 
"histories" of the veritable Daniel Boone. The Squire Boone and 
his wife where we lodged were Baptists from Kentucky.. They 
were true-hearted people, and possessed and retained the true mis- 
sionary spirit. A few years later I found them above the Loutre, 
and to the left of the Boone's Lick trace. 

The morning of December 16th was clear, cold, and frosty. "We 
started at the rising of the sun, and rode to Brother Callaway's 
cluster of cabins on the bank of the Missouri — the distance being 
twenty miles — where, in expectation, an excellent breakfast was in 
rapid preparation. Here, for the first time, I saw and conversed 
with the veritable Daniel Boone, the pioneer and hunter of Ken- 
tucky. Instead of writing a new article of the impressions made 
on my mind, as recorded in the life of Boone, found in Dr. Spark's 
edition of the " Library of American biography," written in 1846, 
vol. xxiii., two paragraphs are here inserted from that volume : 

'* On his introduction to Colonel Boone, the impressions were 
those of surprise, admiration, and delight. In boyhood, the writer 
had read of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky, the celebrated 
Indian fighter ; and imagination had portrayed a rough, fierce- 
looking, uncouth specimen of humanity, and of course at this period 
of Ufe a fretful and unattractive old man. But in every respect 
the reverse appeared. His high, bold forehead was slightly bald, 
and his silvered locks were combed smooth ; his countenance was 



DANIEL BOONE. 12Y 

ruddy and fair, and exhibited the simplicity of a child. A smile 
frequently played over his countenance in conversation. His voice 
was soft and melodious. At repeated interviews, an irritable ex- 
ipression was never heard. His clothing was the coarse, plain manu- 
facture of the family ; but every thing denoted that kind of comfort 
that was congenial to his habits and feelings, and evinced a happy 
old age. His room was part of a range of log-cabins kept in order 
by his affectionate daughter and grand-daughters. 

" Every member of the household appeared to take delight in ad- 
ministering to his comforts. He was sociable, communicative in 
replying to questions, but not in introducing incidents of his own 
history. He was intelligent ; for he had treasured up the experience 
and observations of more than fourscore 3^ears. In this and other 
interviews, every incident of his eventful life might have been 
drawn from his lips ; but veneration being the predominant feeling 
which his presence excited, no more than a few brief notes were 
taken. He spoke feelingly, and with solemnity, of being a creature 
of Providence, ordained by heaven as a pioneer in the wilderness, 
to advance the civilization and extension of his country." 

He was not moody and unsocial, as if desirous of shunning t 
society and civilization. 

A thousand-and-one tales told of Colonel Daniel Boone are as 
purely fictitious as the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. 

I preached in the day and evening at the house of Mr. Callaway, 
with Colonel Boone for a hearer. 

On Thursday morning, the 17th of December, I rode along a blind 
trail, or bridle-path, and over hills and through ravines, fifteen miles 
to the cabin of Mr. James Stevenson. My route lay along the 
blufi's that bordered on the Missouri river, the country thinly settled, 
and wagon-tracks seldom seen. I had sent on an appointment at 
Mr. McDermid's, but it had failed in being circulated. 

Mr. S., of whose hospitality I was a welcome sharer, was an ex- 
perienced hunter, then about sixty years of age. Two young 
panthers graced the one room that answered for kitchen, dining- 
hall, and lodging-room. My curiosity was gratified to hear and learn 
something of the exploits of the chase. In our boyhood the story 
of " Putnam and the wolf," so graphically described by Colonel 
Humphry, his biographer, had been often read with thrilling in- 
terest. But here was a man that threw old Putnam into the shade. 

A few years previously to my visit, bear-hunting furnished both 
sport and profit on both sides of the Missouri. On one year espe- 
cially (we think it was 1807-8), the common black bear was so 



128 MEMOIR 10P JOHN M. PECK. 

plenty on this range as to satiate and tire out the hunters. Mr. S. 
narrated a most terrific account of a contest he had with a wounded 
bear, and finished the story by exposing one of his arms and side, 
where the teeth and claws of the enraged animal had left scars that 
were truly frightful. The old hunter obtained the victory. He 
had broken the barrel of his rifle over the head of the enraged 
animal, and while one arm and his side were at the mercy of the 
bear, he was successful in wresting his hunting-knife from its sheath, 
and plunging it into the heart of his assailant. 

My next appointment, at twelve o'clock, w^as twenty miles, and 
no house on the route. Obtaining directions about the blind trail 
I had to follow I returned thanks to my kind host, and was on my 
horse before the sun peered his bright face over the bluffs, thinking 
I could reach the preaching-station and get breakfast before the 
people assembled. The day was pleasant, the air mild, and I found 
it expedient to mail one overcoat with my traveling-valise behind 
me. The morning wore away, and I must have traveled a dozen or 
fifteen miles, when I found the path I had' followed came to an end. 
I had passed divers paths that diverged to the right and left, but 
the one I followed was the plainest, and the tracks of horses de- 
ceived me, until I found myself in a large rush bottom. 

"Taking the back-track" is the only remedy in such cases. As 
I came to a fork I would follow that till it proved to be equally 
fallacious. After several trials, I found myself in sight of the turbid 
Missouri, and soon discovered that the path I had missed was a dim 
trail that wound around a point of the bluff. I now pushed on in 
hopes of making up for lost time, but I had not gone a mile before 
I discovered that my overcoat and valise were gone from behind me. 

The only alternative was to " take the back-track" again, and 
ride till I found my missing property. This going and returning 
caused me a ride of a dozen miles. The overcoat and other articles 
lay unmolested in the path where they had dropped in the early 
part of the day. Just as the sun set I came in sight of a clearing, 
and, to my surprise, found more than twenty men and women, who 
had patiently waited from the hour of twelve to hear the " strange 
preacher." As some of the company had to return home, eight or 
ten miles, that night, I arranged to preach at once to the com- 
pany present. Several stayed through -the night, amongst whom 
were Brethren Smith and Coats, who came to meet and pilot me 
through to the monthly meeting of Salem church, on Coats' Prairie, 
the next day. The family where we stayed were Methodists, and 
once in three months a circuit-preacher visited them. 



A LATE BREAKFAST — WILLIAM COATS. 129 

After the people had dispersed, our kind hostess set about pre- 
paring supper for the familj'- and company who tarried. After com- 
mencing the evening meal, Mrs. C. remarked, rather apologetically : 
"I reckon that you have had no dinner to-day. I hope you will 
find something that will answer." " I purpose, madam, to eat my 
breakfast first, and then I will talk about dinner and supper." 
" Law me, have you eat no breakfast to-day ?" "Not a morsel has 
entered my mouth this day till I sat down to your table." I then 
gave the company a brief sketch of my adventures during the day. 
"But why did you not tell us when you first arrived? I would 
have had a bite set before you at once." "Because I saw here a 
number of people hungry for the gospel, and I knew they would 
go home. I much preferred to do my preaching. Now I can eat 
leisurely, and get a comfortable night's rest, and be off with these 
brethren early in the morning." "And I shan't let you go before 
breakfast, so you may make yourself easy." And sure enough, our 
bustling, industrious, tidy hostess, had her table spread ; corn cakes, 
venison, and fresh pork, with fine-flavored coffee, graced the board, 
and a hearty welcome crowned all. Having had a season of family- 
worship, we parted from this hospitable and pious family just as 
the rising sun threw his beams on the tops of the forest trees. 

The weather was quite moderate, and a pleasant ride of fifteen 
miles brought us to the cabin of Brother AVilliara Coats, on the 
border of a little prairie that bore his name, as the first settler in 
all that region. Here my colleague gathered a small church the 
preceding June, and mine was the first visit of a Baptist preacher 
more than six months after. Prayer-meetings had been kept up 
by Brethren Coats and Smith. The church was called Salem. 

Brother Coats had been a member of a Baptist church more 
than twenty 3^ears. During this period, whenever he enjoyed the 
presence of God, his mind was deeply exercised about preaching 
the gospel to his fellow-men ; but when in a worldly, backshding 
state, these impressions left him. He came from Tennessee in 
1817, and made the first settlement on the prairie that bore his 
name. We held a long conversation with him about his duty, and 
in less than two years he was numbered among the preachers. 

Lord's-day, December 20th. The people collected from the scat- 
tering settlements ten or fifteen miles around to hear the gospel. 
I preached from Ephes. ii. 8 : " For by grace are ye saved through 
faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God." 

There was a vein of crude antinomianism that ran through the 
minds of that class of Baptists who claimed descent from the party 



130 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

called " Eegulars" in Kentucky and Tennessee. They could not 
comprehend that God in all the sovereign displays of his grace 
worked by means, and made use of instrumentalities in the con- 
version of sinners. Hence preachers, with crude and imperfect 
notions about God working in us to do his own will and pleasure, 
knew not how to preach the gospel to unconverted sinners. These 
mistaken notions lay at the bottom of opposition to missions and 
to all instrumentalities for the conversion of men. The mind of 
Brother Coats, before referred to, had been stereotyped with the 
fallacies he had heard, mixed up with gospel truth, from early life. 
He was a plain, strong-minded man, who read the Bible and thought 
out its meaning for himself; but he had been trained under that 
mode of preaching which hampered his feelings. He lost twenty 
years of usefulness for want of Scriptural instruction when he first 
joined the church. For, amongst other errors, this class of preach- 
ers taught that no one must intermeddle with those whom God 
called to the ministry ; He would bring them out " in his own good 
time." 

At the close of preaching, the " Coats' Prairie Mite Society, 
auxiliary," etc., was formed and several dollars raised. After 
meeting closed, I rode ten miles in company with Brother Thomas 
Smith, with whom I had formed an interesting acquaintance at 
the Missouri Association in October. He was an active, intel- 
ligent man, with a clear, strong mind, and one of the very few 
lay-brethren I found who understood the duty of a Christian pro- 
fessor. His wife was a daughter of David Darst, one of the old 
pioneers who came into the country and settled on the Femme- 
Osage, under the Spanish Government. 

Brother Smith had none of the troubles of Brother Coats in 
reconciling the purposes of God with the means and instrument- 
alities He has directed us to employ. He was clear-headed in 
Scripture doctrine, and warm-hearted in Christian practice. But 
the mysterious providence of God saw fit to cut him down in a few 
years and take him to the kingdom on high ! 

Monday, the 21st, was spent with this hospitable family in writing 
and arranging my affairs for the further prosecution of the mission. 

Tuesday, 22d. Accompanied by Brother Smith, I set off at an 
early hour. A ride of fifteen miles brought me to the French vil- 
lage of Cote Sans Dessein (literally, " a hill without purpose.") 
This village derives its name from an isolated hill or bluff that 
stands, as if by accident, near the left bank of the river, a short 
distance above the town site. 



BRAVERY or LOUIS ROI. 131 

A colony of French families, at the head of which was Baptiste 
Louis Eoi, settled here in 1808. The Indians began to be trouble- 
some in 1812, and M. Roi, with a few others, erected a block-house 
and an inclosure with palisades to protect the families. But as 
danger approached, Roi was deserted by his comrades, who went 
down the river in canoes, and left him with his men and a dozen 
women and children to defend the fort. In the spring of 1814, they 
were assailed by a large company of hostile savages. One of the 
men took fright, hid himself, muttered over the prayers he learned 
from the priest, and crossed himself, till he was driven from his 
hiding-place by Roi, who threatened to shoot him if he did not quit 
his foolery and fight for his life. 

The heroic women cast bullets, cut patches, and loaded the rifles, 
while Roi and his unflinching comrade poured on the assailants a 
murderous fire in defence of the fort till fourteen braves were slain, 
and many more wounded. After several bold attempts to storm 
the fort, they were driven back with reduced numbers. They then 
fastened combustible materials to their arrows and attempted to 
burn the building. The supply of water in the fort was scanty, 
but the women used it with parsimonious economy. The blazing 
torches of the savages were sent on the roof with frightful ac- 
curacy from a ravine that sheltered the assailants, and each new 
blaze called out the demoniac yells of the Indians. At this crisis 
the water was drained from the last bucket, and the blazing fire 
broke out afresh ! Even Baptiste Roi himself looked aghast on 
the helpless group around him ; the house on fire, and no means to 
extinguish it ! Must they be burned alive, or fall victims to the 
tomahawk and scalping-knife ! Just at that crisis, Madame Roi ap- 
peared with the night-vessel from her lodging-room, the contents 
of which just served to extinguish the fire and save the lives of 
the party. The Indians with the howl of despair departed with 
their wounded, leaving the dead bodies of fourteen braves to be 
interred by the heroic defenders. 

It was not till after the war that this extraordinary defense be- 
came generally known. The young men of St. Louis honored him 
with the present of a costly rifle for his gallant behavior. 

Passing along the river bank, I reached the house of a Mr. Fer- 
gusson, where my reception was friendly and hospitable. Here I 
found a copy of Goldsmith's writings, and several other choice 
books — a rare thing in that early period of log-cabins. 

On Wednesday morning, the 23d, I found my horse was sick and 
lame. It was the same horse that brought my family from the 



132 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

State of Connecticut to Shawneetown, and which performed hard 
and valuable service through the summer and autumn. After 
some detention, I rode a short distance to the cabin of a Mr. Scott, 
where I preached to a small company. 

Next morning, my horse being some better, I rode twelve miles 
to Round Prairie in company with a young man by the name of 
Henderson. Here I stopped a while to converse and pray with 
Mrs. Henderson, the mother of my traveling companion. She be- 
longed to the Presbyterian Church when she left the old States, and 
expressed great satisfaction to see a minister of Christ. It was no 
unusual occurrence to find intelligent and pious Christians in the 
scattered log-cabins on these frontiers. And no service is more 
important in the labors of an itinerant than family visits, and in- 
structing and consoling the people of God, who, hke sheep scattered 
through the wilderness, are beyond the reach of the pastor. After 
a season of Christian conversation and prayer, and partaking of 
refreshments, I proceeded forward to the Two-Mile Prairie, and 
received the hospitality of a Mr. Brant. 

December 25th. The people with whom I tarried last night are 
young, with one little child, appear to be in fine health and spirits, and 
have come to this new country to obtain land at government-prices 
when it comes into market. They are industrious, active, and keep 
private entertainment for travelers. They are not religious, but 
civil and quiet, as were four travelers who tarried at the same place, 
liearning by inquiry that I was a missionary, I was invited to pray 
with the company before we retired. This morning they refused 
pay for my entertainment, and invited me to call and preach when- 
ever I passed that way. 

To-day my route was* first across the Two Mile Prairie. It de- 
rives its name from its average width, commences between two 
points of timber towards the Missouri, and extends a long distance 
northward until lost in the Grand Prairie. Here are about a dozen 
families in log-cabins scattered along its borders. Crossing this 
prairie in a horse trail, and after riding several miles through tim- 
ber and brushwood, I came to a Mr. H 's, where report said break- 
fast could be obtained, and which off'ered quite a contrast with the 
family of last night. The cabin was a single room of most primi- 
tive fashion, spice-bush tea was a substitute for coffee, and the flesh 
of hog, bear, deer, and elk was plenty, of which the landlord showed 
me enough to supply a regiment. The corn-dodgers were cold and 
quite unpalatable ; for the good womcfn had never learned the art 
of cleanliness and cookery. The man was a successful hunter, but 



TWO MILE PRAIRIE — A BAPTIST MUTE. 133 

probably understood very little of agriculture. I paid fifty cents 
for these accommodations ; for my horse was lame, and refused to 
eat. 

As I proceeded westward, cabins and smokes from clearings be- 
came more frequent. The Methodist circuit-preachers, Messrs. 
McAllister and Jones, pass through and preach in these scattering 
settlements about once in six weeks, and Dr. David Doyle, a Baptist 
minister from North Carolina, settled the last spring to the left of 
my trail and near the Two Mile Prairie. He will soon gather the 
scattered Baptists in this region into the field, 

I could only travel my broken-down horse in a slow walk, and 
night found me under the hospitable roof of Mr. Crump, where I 
was kindly entertained. He was not a professor of religion, but 
had the character of an orderly, excellent man. His wife was a 
neat, tidy person, and the mother of three children. 

December 2Qth. As I was about to start on my way towards 
Franklin, a Baptist by name of Anderson Woods came along, and 
was hailed by Mr. Crump. He was on his way to the monthly 
meeting of Bethel church, at the house of Lazarus Wilcox, and 
finding my horse was no better, I struck into the trail, and in 
half an hour we were at the place of meeting, and soon surrounded 
by the members of the church and others. Brother Woods was 
not then in the ministry, but could lead a meeting in prayer and 
exhortation. By request, I preached to the little congregation 
before church-meeting, and again at night to six persons, one of 
whom was a deaf mute from his birth. He was singularly intelli- 
gent for one of that unfortunate class. He knew what we were 
about in worshiping God. His brother. Deacon Wilcox, Telatcd an 
incident that was proof of his knowledge and correct views of the 
infinitely Holy God. He had occasion to correct his little son for 
telling a lie. 

The deaf mute was much attached to the child, and when the 
father had corrected and given him a serious talk, the mute got an 
old book in the house, with divers religious emblems for a frontis- 
piece. One of these was the figure of a large human eye in one 
of the upper corners. The deaf mute placed the boy between his 
knees, and while the tears of sympathy and sorrow rolled down his 
cheeks, he pointed to the emblem of the All-seeing Eye, raised it 
upward and then to the boy as though he would pierce him. This 
was the most impressive way he could say : " The eye of God is 
on you, looks into your heart, and will punish you for lying." 

^This was done several times. This man, as I learned at a sub- 
12 



134 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

sequent period, told his experience to the church by signs ; his 
brother, being interpreter, was baptized and lived a Christian life. 

Bethel church was situated on the waters of the Moniteau, 
twenty miles east of Old Franklin. It was organized June 27th, 
1817, by the ministry of Elders David McLain and Wm. Thorp. 

On Lord's-day, the 27th, the weather was pleasant, the sun shone 
bright, and all nature appeared gay and cheerful. The people report 
the season as unusually mild and pleasant. 

I preached from 1 Pet. iii. 18. The house contained two rooms, 
and was crowded with people, who gave respectful attention. The 
Bettlers in this region, in general, appear to be a respectable class 
of citizens, tolerably well-informed, and enjoy gospel privileges to 
a greater extent than in most parts of the territory. 

On Monday, I rode through the country to Franklin, found a 
Baptist family by name of Wiseman, where I had been directed to 
call. A hasty appointment was circulated, and I preached to a 
roomful of people. * 

Franklin is a. village of seventy families. It is situated on the 
left bank of the Missouri, and on the border of an extensive tract 
of rich, alluvial bottom land, covered with a heavy forest, except 
where the axe and fires had destroyed the undergrowth, " dead- 
ened" the timber and prepared the fields for the largest crops of 
corn. 

If any one wishes to find the site of this flourishing town, as it 
then appeared to promise, he must examine the bed of the river 
directly opposite Booneville. Repeated floods, many years since, 
drove the inhabitants to the bluff, with such of their houses- as 
could be removed, where New Franklin, not a very thriving place, 
now stands. At the period of our visit, no town west of St. Louis 
gave better promise for rapid growth than Franklin. There was 
no church formed in the village, but I found fourteen Baptists 
there. 

The country on. the north side of the Missouri above the Cedar, 
a small stream on the western border of the present county of 
Callaway, was known as Boone's Lick from an early period. Also 
under the same cognomen was the country designated on the south 
side and west of the Osage river. The particular salt-lick to which 
this appellation was first given was ten or twelve miles above old 
Franklin and about two miles back from the river. Tradition told that 
this spot, in a secluded place among the bhiffs. was occupied by the 
old pioneer, the veritable Daniel Boone, for his hunting-camp. But 
the name came from the late Major Nathan Boone, who in company 



BOONE'S LICK — INDIAN MASSACRES. 135 

•with the Messrs. Morrisons of St. Charles, manufactured salt at the 
spring in 1806-7. About the same time a settlement was made on 
the Loutre and on Loutre Island. This settlement, except Cote 
Sans Dessein, was the veritable ** Far West" imtil 1810. 

During the spring of 1810 several families from Loutre settle- 
ment, and a large number, then recently from Kentucky, moved 
westward and planted themselves in the Boone's Lick country, then 
reported as the el dorado of all new countries. Off from the river 
bottoms the land was undulating, the prairies small, the soil rich, 
and the timber in variety and of a fine quality. Deer, bears, elk, 
and other game were in abundance, and furnished provisions, and, 
in many instances, clothing, until the people could raise crops. 

There were in all about one hundred and fifty families that came 
into the Boone's Lick country in 1810-11, when the Indian war 
stopped further immigration till 1815 or 1816. Twelve families 
settl^ on the south side of the river, not far from the present site 
of Booneville, and several more formed a settlement south of the 
Missouri, some ten or fifteen miles above Old Franklin. 

Amongst the emigrants, both from Loutre and Kentucky, were 
not a few Baptist families and two or three preachers. A church 
had been organized in the Loutre settlement, a majority of which, 
with their church records, were among the emigrants, and became 
reorganized, and I think took the name of Mount Zion. 

Soon the hostile Indians broke into these remote frontier settle- 
ments. It was in July, 1810, that a hostile band of Pottawatomies 
came stealthily into the settlement on the Loutre, nearly opposite 
the mouth of the Gasconade river, and stole a number of horses. 
A volunteer company was raised, consisting of Stephen Cole, Will 
liam T. Cole, Messrs. Brown, Gooch, Patton, and one other person, to 
follow them. They followed the trail across Grand Prairie to Bone 
Lick, a branch of Salt river, where they discovered eight Indians 
who threw off their packs of plunder, and scattered in the woods. 
Night coming on, the party disregarded the advice of their leader, 
Stephen Cole, an experienced man with Indians. He advised set- 
ting a guard, but the majority exclaimed against it, and cried 
** cowardice." About midnight the Indian yell and the death-deal- 
ing bullet aroused them from sleep. Stephen Cole had taken his 
station at the foot of a tree, and if he slept, it was with one eye 
open. He killed four Indians, and wounded the fifth, though se- 
verely wounded himself. William T. Cole, his brother, was killed 
at the commencement of the fight, with two other persons. Next 
morning the survivors reached the settlement and told the dread- 



136 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ful tidings, and a party returned to the spot, buried the dead, but 
found the Indians gone. 

This was the first of a series of depredations, murders, and rob- 
beries in these remote settlements that continued five years. The 
district of St. Charles had the Cedar for its western boundary. The 
Boone's Lick country was not recognized as within the organized 
territory of Missouri. The people were " a law unto themselves," 
and had to do their own fighting. Ev,ery male inhabitant of the 
settlement, who was capable of bearing arms, enrolled and equipped 
himself for defense. Each one pledged himself to fight, to labor 
on the forts, to go on scouting-expeditions, or to raise corn for the 
community, as danger or necessity required. By the common con- 
sent of all these volunteer parties, Colonel Benjamin Cooper, a 
Baptist from Madison county, Ky., was chosen commander-in-chief. 

Colonel Cooper was one of Kentucky's noblest pioneers. He 
had also been a prominent man in the wars with Indians in that 
district, possessed real courage, cool and deliberate, with great skill 
and sagacity in judgment. He had also been an efficient man in 
the aff"airs of civil and political life, and a man of firmness and 
correctness as a member of the church. 

Among the principal officers who occupied subaltern positions 
as the commanders of forts and partisan leaders for detached field- 
service were Captain Sarshall Cooper (a brother of the Colonel), 
William Head and Stephen Cole. 

To guard against surprise, the people, under the direction of their 
leader, erected five stockade forts : 

1. Cooper' s fort was at the residence of the Colonel, on a bottom- 
prairie. 

2. McLairi' s fort (called Fort Hempstead afterward) was on the 
bluff, about one mile from New Franklin. 

3. Kmcaid's fort was near the river, and about one and a half 
miles above the site of Old Franklin. 

4. Head's fort was on the Moniteau, near the old Boone's Lick 
trace from St. Charles. 

5. Cole's fort was on the south side of the Missouri, about a mile 
below Booneville. Here the widow of W.T. Cole, who was slain 
by the Indians on Boone's Lick, with her children, settled soon after 
the murder of her husband. 

These forts were a refuge to the families when dangers threat- 
ened, but the defenders of the country did not reside in them only 
as threatened danger required. Scouting-parties were almost con- 
stantly engaged scouring the woods in the rear of the settlements, 



STOCKADE PORTS — PERILS OP PIONEERS. 13t 

watching for Indian signs, and protecting their stock from depre- 
dations. 

With all their vigilance during the war, about three hundred 
horses were stolen ; many cattle and nearly all their hogs were 
killed. Bear-meat and raccoon-bacon became a substitute, and 
even were engaged in contracts for trade. They cultivated the 
fields nearest to the stockade-forts, which could be cultivated in 
corn with comparative security, but not enough to supply the 
amount necessary for consumption. 

Parties were detailed to cultivate fields more distant. These 
were divided into plowmen and sentinels. The one party followed 
the plows, and the other, with rifles loaded and ready, scouted 
around the field on every side, stealthily watching lest the wily foe 
should form an ambuscade. Often the plowman walked over the 
field, guiding his horses and pulverizing the earth, with his loaded 
rifle slung at his back. 

With all these precautions, few men but would tread stealthily 
along the furrows. As he approached the end of the corn-rows, where 
the adjacent woodland might -conceal an enemy, his anxiety was at 
its height. When these detachments were in the cornfield, if the 
enemy threatened the fort, the sound of the horn gave the alarm, 
and all rushed to the rescue. 

It was in the autumnal season of corn-gathering, that a party of 
these farming soldiers were hard pressed by a party of savages. A 
negro servant drove the team with a load of corn. He knew nothing 
of chariot races among the ancients, but he put the lash on the 
horses, and drove through the large double-gateway without touch- 
ing either post, as had been too often his unlucky habit. The 
Indians were on the opposite side of the clearing, saw their prey 
had escaped, raised their accustomed yell, and disappeared in the 
woods. " Oh, Sam," said the Captain, whose servant he was, 
"you've saved your scalp this time by accurate and energetic 
driving !" 

"Yes, Massa, I tink so," at the same time scratching his wool as 
if he would make doubly sure that the useful appendage was not 
missing. " De way I done miss dose gate-posts was no red man's 
business. I never drove trew afore without I hit one side, and 
sometimes bose of dem." 

These pioneer Boone's Lick settlers deserve to be known and 
had in remembrance by the present generation in that populous 
and rich district of the State. I regret exceedingly, now it is too late, 
that I did not gather many more facts, and record the names of the 



138 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

principal families. They suffered as many privations as any frontier 
settlement in western history. The men were all heroes and the 
women heroines, and successfully and skilfully defended their fami- 
lies and the country about three years without the least aid from 
the national or territorial government. Throughout the war but 
ten persons were killed by Indians in all the settlements about 
Boone's Lick. Several other persons besides those already men- 
tioned were killed in the Loutre settlements and below. 

Those killed in the Boone's Lick country were Sarshall Cooper, 
Jonathan Todd, William Campbell, Thomas Smith, Samuel McMa- 
han, William Gregg, John Smith, James Busby, Joseph W. Still, 
and a negro man. Captain Sarshall Cooper came to his tragic end 
at Cooper's fort, where his family resided. It was a dark night ; 
the wind howled through the forest, and the rain fell in fitful gusts, 
and the watchful sentinel could not discern an object six feet from 
the stockade. Captain Cooper's residence formed one of the angles 
of the fort. He had previously run up a long account with the 
red-skins. They dreaded both his strategy and his prowess in 
Indian warfare. A single brave crept stealthily in the darkness 
and storm to the logs of the cabin, and made an opening in the 
clay between the logs barely sufficient to admit the muzzle of his 
gun, which he discharged with fatal effect. The assassin escaped 
and left the family and every settler in mourning. Among a large 
circle of relatives and friends, the impressions of their loss were 
vivid at the period of our first visit. 

After nearly three years of hard fighting and severe suffer- 
ing, Congress made provision for raising several companies of 
''rangers" — men who furnished their own horses, equipments, 
forage and provisions, and received one dollar per day for yarding 
the frontier settlements — when a detachment was sent to the relief 
of the people of Boone's Lick, under command of General Henry 
S. Dodge, then major of the battalion. The mounted rangers in- 
cluded the companies of Captain John Thompson of St. Louis, 
Captain Daugherty of Cape Girardeau, and Captain Cooper of the 
Boone's Lick. An expedition under command of Captain Edward 
Hempstead was sent in boats up the Missouri. In the companies 
were fifty Delawares and Shawnees, and two hundred and fifty 
Americans. On the south bank of the Missouri, at a place now 
known as Miami, was an Indian town of four hundred, including 
women and children, who had migrated from the Wabash country 
a few years previous. They were friendly and peaceable ; but bad 



CAPTAIN CALLAWAY — LUKE WILLIAMS. 139 

Indians would report bad tales of them, and Major Dodge, under 
instructions, guarded them" back to the Wabash country. 

One more disastrous event, though it occurred in the Loutre, 
deserves a brief record. Early in the season of 1814, the Sauks 
and Pottawatomies stole horses in the neighborhood of Loutre 
island. Fifteen or twenty rangers, commanded by Captain James 
Callaway, being out on a tour of observation, accidentally fell on 
their trail, and followed it. They came on the Indians in their 
camp near the head of Loutre creek, found the horses, but the 
Indians seemingly had fled. They retook the horses, and proceeded 
toward the settlement until they reached Prairie Fork. Here the 
captain, desirous of reheving the men who had charge of the horses 
in the rear, gave the command to Lieutenant Riggs, who went on 
with the main party. In a short time Captain Callaway and the 
men who had charge of the horses were fired on by a large party 
of Indians who lay in ambuscade, and he was severely wounded. 
He broke the line of the Indians, while men and horses fled ; rode 
towards the main Loutre, where he was again intercepted by the 
savage enemy, and, being mortally wounded, fell from his horse 
as he attempted to swim the stream and expired. Four rangers 
of his party, McDermot, Hutchinson, McMillan and Gillmore, were 
killed. 

Captain Callaway was the son of Flanders Callaway, and grand- 
son of Daniel Boone. He was respected and lamented by all who 
knew him. The county of Callaway bears his name to posterity. 

On my first visit to the Boone's Lick settlements, January, 1819, 
there were five preachers and five churches on the Baptist platform. 
Concord, I am inclined to think, had its origin in the party from 
Loutre, already noticed ; and if so, it ranks first in the order of 
time. This church was in what Is now Cooper county in the set- 
tlement south of Booneville. It gave name to the Concord Asso- 
ciation, the history of which will be noticed in due time. 

From this church, about the time or soon after my first visit to 
this part of Missouri, a preacher was raised up, and for a few years 
was remarkably successful in the conversion of sinners and estab- 
lishing churches. His name was Luke Williams. It appears on 
the minutes of Mount Pleasant Association as a licentiate in 1820. 
He settled on a quarter section of public land, which he could hold 
by pre-emption for a limited period ; for he had no money to buy 
land, and no means of getting any unless he should quit the min 
istry and engage in secular business, as some of his brethren did 
He was one of the most self-sacrificing itinerants in those days 1 



140 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ever knew. His zeal and Christian enterprise prompted him to 
ride and preach through all the settlements to the extreme western 
frontiers. No missionary society aided him ; no churches — even 
those raised up under his ministry, and who claimed a share of his 
time and talents — gave him a dollar. He had put up a cabin, made 
a "truck-patch," and a cornfield, before he engaged in the ministry. 
He stayed at home only long enough to cultivate, with the aid of 
his industrious wife and little children, a crop of corn. The calls 
on him to preach to the destitute churches were numerous and 
pressing, but the members, not excepting the deacons, were too 
intent on saving every dollar they could get to buy land when it 
came into the market. Then a large majority of the Baptists that 
came into the early settlements of Boone's Lick had strong preju- 
dices, as unreasonable as they were unscriptural, against giving 
any compensation to ministers. They made the egregious blunder 
that because the gospel was " without money and without price," 
therefore they might take the time and the talents of a minister 
of Christ for their own use, and rob him of the means of support 
due to his family. Luke Williams gave away many hundred dollars 
in his time and talents for the personal benefit of those who were 
too ignorant, too full of prejudice, or too avaricious to do justice to 
one of Christ's laborious and self-sacrificing servants. Yet God was 
with him, and scores of sinners were converted under his ministry. 
He died after a short but severe illness, early in September, 1824 ; 
leaving his land without a title, and his wife and little ones without 
a shelter they could call their own. An attempt was made after 
his decease, at the Fishing River Association, to raise a fund to 
enable the widow to enter the land for the children ; but I am under 
the impression that for want of promptitude, and taking "pledges" 
and "promises" instead of dollars, the effort proved abortive. 

Elder J. Hubbard, who was an old man and had been long in the 
ministry, was a resident and a preacher in Howard county on my 
first visit. He possessed a strong mind, and had received a better 
education in early life than his brethren in the ministry. He was 
clear-headed, Calvinistic in doctrine, and yet free from the blunders 
of those who could not reconcile the duty of sinners to repent and 
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with the sovereignty of God in 
the dispensation 'of his grace. I found no preacher in Missouri, 
and few anywhere else, who had such fuU and correct knowledge of 
the Holy Scriptures as Elder Hubbam possessed. Yet he was 
modest and unassuming, without the least dogmatism in giving his 
views when solicited. He was quite deaf, and could enjoy con- 



DAVID M'LAIN — INDIAN FIGHT. 141 

versation only when his brethren spoke in a distinct tone of 
voice. 

Elder Edward Turner was from Kentucky, and came to Howard 
county soon after the close of the war. He was a man of moderate 
abilities, and of correct deportment as a minister of the gospel. 
His name appears on the minutes of Mount Pleasant Association 
of 1820. 

Elder Golden Williams was another of the early Baptist minis- 
ters in the Boone's Lick settlements. He came there from Cape' 
Girardeau county, where he had been pastor of Bethel church. 
He possessed a strong discriminating mind, loved the work of the 
ministry, and was faithful in his calUng. His membership was in 
Mount Zion church, where he furnished the monthly supply. I 
trace his name on the minutes of the association as a messenger 
from that church till 1830, when it disappears. He was much re- 
spected as a minister, and probably was called home about that 
time. 

The only one that remains to be noticed is Elder David McLain. 
He was the first Baptist minister that came from central Kentucky 
to the Boone's Lick country with the first colony in 1810. Early 
in March, 1813, he started on horseback to Kentucky in company 
with a man by name of Young. They traveled without molestation 
till they reached Hill's ferry on the Kaskaskia river, old trace from 
St. Louis to Vincennes, Carlyle, the seat of justice of Clinton county, 
111. Three families that resided here, being alarmed by Indian 
signs, had left the ferry for one of the settlements in St. Clair 
county. The ferry-boat being fastened to the west bank, the two 
travelers crossed with their horses, and had not proceeded more 
than half a mile before they were fired on by Indians. Mr. Young 
was shot, and fell from his horse. Mr. McLain's horse was shot 
through the body, and fell ; but the rider extricated himself, threw 
his saddle-bags into the bush, and ran for his life with several In- 
dians in chase. Soon after, all the Indians fell back but one stout, 
athletic fellow, that seemed determined not to lose his prey. Elder 
McLain was encumbered with a thick overcoat, with wrappers on 
his legs, and boots and spurs on his feet. The Indian fired and 
missed him, which gave him the chance to throw off his overcoat, 
in hopes the prize would attract the attention of his pursuer. The 
other Indians having fallen ba^ek, Mr. McLain made signs of sur- 
render as this one approached him, having loaded his gun. In this 
way he deceived his foe till he got within a few feet, when he as- 
sumed an attitude of defiance, watched his motions, and, at the 



142 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

instant he fired, dodged the ball, and then, with all the energy he 
could command, ran for his life. The contest continued more than 
one hour, during which his foe fired at him seven times. In one 
instance as he threw his breast forward, unfortunately he threw 
his elbow back and received the ball in his arm. During the chase 
he contrived to throw of his boots and spurs. They had run three 
or four miles in the timbered bottom down the river, and at a bend 
came near the bank. Elder McLain found himself nearly exhausted, 
mnd it seemed to him his last chance of escape was to swim the 
river. He plunged in, making the utmost efl'ort of his remaining 
strength, and yet he had to keep an eye constantly fixed on his 
wily foe, who had loaded his gun for the eighth time, and from the 
bank brought it to a poise, and fired a second of time after McLain 
dove in deep water. By sw^imming diagonally down the stream he 
had gained on his pursuer, who, with the savage yell peculiar on 
such occasions, gave up the chase and returned to his band. Doubt- 
less his report to the braves was that he had followed a " great- 
medicine," who was so charmed that his inusket balls could not 
hurt him. 

On reaching the shore, Mr. McLain was so exhausted that it was 
with the utmost difficulty he could crawl up the bank ; for he was 
in a profuse perspiration when he plunged into the cold water. He 
was wet, chilled through, badly wounded, and could not stand until 
he had rolled himself on the ground, and rubbed his limbs to bring 
the blood into circulation. It was thirty-five miles to the Badgley 
settlement, where Elder Daniel Badgley and several Baptist fami- 
lies Hved, which Mr. McLain, after incredible effort and sufferings, 
reached the next morning. There, with his wounded arm, and a 
burning fever, he lay several weeks, till some of his friends came 
from the Boone's Lick settlements, and took him to his family. A 
party of volunteers went over the Kaskaskia river, buried Mr. Young, 
found McLain's saddle-bags, with the contents safe, but saw no 
Indians. 

I will now resume my journal, commencing January 1st, 1819, 
on which I left Franklin, and rode twenty-five miles a northwestern 
;ourse to Chariton, where I called on and received a cordial welcome 
from General Duff Green and his family. It may now amuse the 
inhabitants on my route to read my remarks and speculations about 
the new country in which I traveled for a month : 

" The country over which I rode is naturally rich and fertile and 
rapidly settling. This part of the territory will soon become the 
garden of Missouri. The surface of the land over which for a few 



CHARITON — FIRST SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 143 

miles I traveled before I reached this new town is rough and broken, 
but will probably become valuable. 

" Chariton, containing- about thirty'- families, has been laid off on 
a stream of the same name. In the winter of 1816-17, it was the 
wintering-ground of a tribe of Indians. The following summer, 
three or four log-cabins were erected. Within a year the increase 
has been rapid, and, in view of trade and business, it is thought 
to be superior to any situation on the Missouri river. The Chariton 
consists of three principal streams or branches that take their rise 
in the great prairies far in the north, each of which when not un- 
usually low is navigable for keel-boats. These branches unite their 
waters in one noble channel as they approach the town, forming a 
stream navigable for steamboats, and a safe harbor at all seasons. 

" This stream forms a beautiful semi-circle, in the bend of which 
lies the town site, the lower end of the circle touching on the Mis- 
souri. On the east side of the town-plat lies a range of hills oi 
bluffs, giving a romantic and variegated appearance. Some, like 
pyramids, rise abruptly into the air, and from their summits show 
one of the most delightful prospects in nature. Ascending one of 
these bluffs, which rose majestically from the town site, I had an 
extensive view of the surrounding country. To the west and north- 
west the prospect is almost boundless." 

On the Sabbath (January 3d), though in constant pain from a 
swollen and inflamed face, I preached at twelve o'clock and again 
at night. » 

There are several very respectable and intelligent families in this 
town, and several unquestionably pious. At night I called the at- 
tention of the ladies to the formation of a " Female Mite Societ}^," 
to aid the " United Society for the spread of the gospel," in sus- 
taining some of our preachers in traveling and preaching in des- 
titute settlements. This " Mite Society" was organized the follow- 
ing week, of twenty-two members, who subscribed thirty-six dollars. 
The officiating persons chosen were Mrs. Lucretia M, Green, Presi- 
dent ; Mrs. Henrietta C. D. Finlay, Secretary ; Mrs. Polly Allen, 
Treasurer ; and Mrs. Mary Ann Campbell and Miss Ann Green, 
Assistant Directors. In the following spring, the first Sabbath- 
school west of St. Louis was commenced in Chariton. It became 
auxiliary to the "Philadelphia Sunday and Adult School Union," 
which was the progenitor of the American Sunday School Union. 
About this period the Baptist missionaries held some correspond- 
ence and had some thoughts of making Chariton a station for the 
"Western Mission." 



144 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

On the 7th of January, I rode to Franklin and preached at night 
to a few persons. Next night I preached in Booneville, where the 
people gave good attention. On returning across the river next 
day, I found the Rev. Nicholas Patterson in town. Mr. P. was an 
itinerant missionary from Philadelphia, and sent to the Far West 
by the Board of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. 
I had seen and formed an acquaintance with him the preceding 
summer at St. Louis. He was a graduate of Princeton college, N. J., 
where he also studied theology ; of medium talents as a preacher, 
but possessed an amiable disposition, great simplicity of character, 
and was habitually devotional. We traveled in company through 
the frontier settlements, visiting every log-cabin we could find, read- 
ing the Scriptures, conversing, exhorting, and praying with every 
family. When opportunity offered, we would send an appointment 
ahead, and gather in a congregation. Our principal range was 
south of the Missouri and westward to the farthest settlements. 
Many of the settlers then scattered through -that region were real 
frontier squatters, who lived in single log-cabins of the most infe- 
rior quality, and made a cornfield of half-a-dozen acres, and a 
" truck-patch," on which they raised cabbages, turnips, cucumbers, 
and melons. We visited families who had not heard a preacher 
of the gospel for twenty years. 

I give a description of one family we visited, not a dozen miles 
above Booneville, as a specimen of many others. It is no disparage- 
ment to the pioneer settlers that, in two years after our visitation, 
they poured into the country from Kentucky, Tennessee and other 
States ; bought out the " rights" of these primitive squatters ; made 
farms and introduced the habits of industry and civilization. The 
*' squatters" we saw ** cleared out" for the frontiers of Arkansas, or 
some other unsettled region, where they would not be annoyed 
with "improvements." 

The only appearance of roads we found were bridle-paths, that 
pursued a zigzag course from one cabin to another. Seeing a smoke 
at a little distance from the trail we were pursuing, we found a cabin, 
about twelve feet square, made of such rough black jackpoles, as 
any stout man could lift, with a sort of wooden and dirt chimney. 
Very little " chinking and daubing" interfered with the passage of 
the wintry winds between the logs. We had to " stoop low," as 
Cotton Mather advised Franklin when he bumped his head against 
the cross-beam, to get in at the doorway. The floor was the earth, 
and filthy in the extreme ; and the lodging-places of the inmates 
were a species of scaff'olds around the walls, and elevated on forks. 



A BACKWOODS FAMILY. 145 

In and around the dirty shelter we found eight liuman beings, 
male and female, and the youngest nearly full size. Soon as we 
entered, the youngsters rushed out with an expression that proba- 
bly was a mixture of wonder and fear. The old man and woman 
remained. He was either offended by having his domicile invaded 
by decent-looking persons, or he was too stupid to converse much. 
She was more tractable, and answered our questions as though she 
folt some interest in the conversation. His shock-headed appear- 
ance was as though he had slept alternately on a heap of cockle- 
burs and ashes. The young men and women would show their 
dingy faces through the crevices between the logs, and in the door- 
way. It was not from destitution of water that the whole family 
remained unwashed, for a fine spring burst out within twenty yards 
of the cabin. Their dress was an object that attracted my atten- 
tion, while my colleague made the effort to instruct them in some 
of the primitive truths of religion. Not a particle of cloth of any 
kind did I discover about their bodies. Men and women were 
dressed in skins that once the wild deer claimed, but covered and 
saturated with grease, blood, and dirt. We gathered the following 
history, chiefly from the old woman. They were " raised in the 
States," which, on further inquiry, meant North Carolina ; there 
they were jnarried, and one or two children were born. There 
slie and the " old man" joined a Baptist church, and heard preach- 
ing once in a month. Neither had been to school in early life. 
They soon moved " beyond the settlements," and had continued to 
move as the "settlements" came near them. They had been in 
Missouri some three or four years, and supposed they would have 
to move again soon ; for they heard the " settlements" were getting 
into the Boone's Lick country, and the land was to be sold. 

On conversing with the old woman about an experience of grace 
and the way of salvation for sinners, through Jesus Christ, she 
wept and said : "That's jest what I hearn the preachers say afore 
we left Carolina." She could read a little, but had neither Bible, 
']'estament, or hymn-book. She " wanted a hyme-hook mightily," 
and we gave her a small one, and also a Testament. 

We read a chapter, gave some familiar explanations, and prayed 
with them ; but all we could say, aided by the persuasions of the 
mother, we could not get one of the young folks into the cabin. 
She said " they had never heard a human pray .in all their born- 
days." 

One of the most striking contrasts in the character and habits 
of those we visited was in family government. Many of the fami- 



146 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

lies we called on, like the one described, were not only wretchedly 
ignorant and filthy, but wholly destitute of skill in family govern- 
ment. Children were left to act out their vicious propensities, 
without the least effort on the part of the parents to assuage and 
restrain their ungovernable passions. Some parents do not train 
their children, from early boyhood to the period of manhood, to 
habits of self-government. What helpless wretches, and how unfit 
for social life, are those young men who have no government over 
themselves ; and in nine instances out of ten the blame, guilt and 
criijie may be justly charged to father or mother, or both. 

Captain Stephen Cole survived the war, after making every efi'ort 
for the defence of the settlements, and being wounded several times. 
After living through and enduring all the hardships and privations 
in settling and holding the country ; just as the period of prosperity 
came, and lands and other property increased in value, and invited 
repose and contentment ; in 1822 his love of adventure induced 
him to become a pioneer in the trade to Santa Fe, from which he 
never returned. He was killed by the red-skins on the plains ! 

Colonel Benjamin Cooper attained to a green old age. He was 
a member of the territorial council, and much respected and beloved 
by all classes. 

Mount Zion church, situated in the interior of Howard county, 
was one of the oldest, and my impression is that it was formed by 
emigrants before the war. No real progress was made in church 
afi"airs during the period of the war from 1810 to 1815. Church- 
meetings and preaching were very irregular. The loss of about 
three hundred horses that were stolen by the Indians, and a large 
portion of the cattle and swine killed, and no opportunity to pro- 
vide a surplus of corn ; the old settlers fared hard and had to be 
very industrious. Then the *' new-comers," hke a mountain torrent, 
poured into the country faster than it was possible to provide corn 
for breadstuff. Some families came in the spring of 1815 ; but in 
the winter, spring, summer, and autumn of 1816, they came like 
an avalanche. It seemed as though Kentucky and Tennessee were 
breaking up and moving to the " Far West." Caravan after caravan 
passed over the prairies of Illinois, crossing the "great river" at 
St. Louis, all bound to the Boone's Lick. The stream of immigra- 
tion had not lessened in 18X7. Many families came from Yirgitiia, 
the Carolinas, and Georgia, and not a few from the Middle States, 
while a sprinkling found their way to the extreme west from 
Yankeedom and Yorkdom. Amongst these was the writer and his 
family in 1817. 



LAND SPECULATION. 14T 

Following in the wake of this exodus to the middle section of 
Missouri was a terrific excitement about getting land. It had at- 
tained the climax on my first visit. A delegate in Congress from 
the Territory of Missouri, by one of those poHtical frauds common 
to political manoeuvering, obtained the passage of an act for the 
rchef of the New Madrid sufferers from the earthquakes of 1811-12. 
It turned out in the result, if there was any truth in hard-swearing 
before the courts, that there were fivefold more New Madrid claims 
than there were heads of famihes and single men in that district. 
There were honest claims, but the courts of justice in Missouri 
are not yet through with the fraudulent ones. 

The late William H. Crawford, Secretary of the United States 
Treasury, decided that no pre-emption rights would be granted 
west of Cedar creek. He overlooked an amendment to a law that 
provided expressly for the Boone's Lick settlements. The mails 
at that period were at least a month in going and returning from 
Washington, and some three months passed away before the error 
was rectified. 

It was in the summer of 1818, that, by proclamation of the 
President, the land-oflices of St. Louis and Old Frankhn were 
opened, pre-emptions confirmed and paid for, and public sales com- 
menced. But pre-emptions in the Boone's Lick county were held 
in abeyance. In the meanwhile hordes of speculators in New 
Madrid claims were scouring the country and laying a claim on 
every farm that could be found. 

Enterprising pioneers, who, like Colonel Benjamin Cooper, had 
defended the country in most perilous times, were in imminent 
danger of losing their lands and improvements. The Register and 
Receiver of the land-ofiice, supposing Congress would make some 
provision in the case, held back these farms from sale, and made 
proclamation for those settlers, who ought to have pre-emption- 
rights, to come to the ofi&ce, prove their rights, and have them 
placed on record. My first visit was at this crisis ; and I could 
not call at a cabin in the country without being accosted : " Got a 
New Madrid claim?" ''Are you one of these land-speculators, 
stranger?" 

From the close of the war, the old settlers had been struggling 
and putting forth all the industry and enterprise possible to obtain 
money to pay for the pre-emptions at the minimum price of Con- 
gress land. I will leave the reader to imagine the just indignation 
of those pioneers, while in doubt about purchasing the land their 
own honest industry had improved. After some delay the law was 



148 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

found to be in their favor, and all excitement was allayed when 
they got their certificates of purchase. 

During the war, when the people had to live in forts, and till 
1818, no correctly-thinking person could expect Christian churches 
to be organized, revivals to follow, and the baptism of converts to be 
reported. With five Baptist preachers, and as many more Cum- 
berland Presbyterians and Methodists, only five Baptist churches, 
with members not much exceeding one hundred in all, were gath- 
ered before 1818. That year the five churches united in organizing 
the Mount Pleasant Baptist Association. The churches were Con- 
cord, Mount Zion, Mount Pleasant, Salem, and Bethel. In 1820, 
these five churches report to the association, seven ministers and 
two hundred and thirteen members. Mount Pisgah, in Cooper 
county, fifteen or twenty miles south of Booneville, was formed 
by immigrants to that region in 1819-20, reported three ministers 
— Elders John B.Logan, Jacob Chism, and Lewis Shelton — and 
thirty-four members. Providence church, north of the Missouri, 
was formed about the same time of ten members. In 1820, the 
association was held with Concord church on the 9th, 10th, and 11th 
days of September, when seven new churches, including four min- 
isters were received. The churches were Petite Osage Bottom 
(called Teetsaw), Mount Nebo, Double Springs, and Big Bottom," 
south of the Missouri ; and Mount Arrarat, Little Bonne Femme, 
and Chariton, north. The elders on the south or right side of the 
river, all new-comers, were Peyton Nowlin, AVilliam Jennings, and 
Peter Woods. In the Chariton church, then located in the old 
town of Chariton, for the first time, is the name of the late Ebe- 
nezer Rodgers. From the same church, a licensed preacher by 
the name of John Bowles appears on the minutes. 



BIG BOTTOM SETTLEMENT. ^ 149 



CHAPTER XL 

Recollections of Missouri in 1819 — A Seminary contemplated. 

On the 15th. of January we pursued our journey, visiting such 
families as we could find scattered along the points of timber, con- 
versing and praying with them. After a ride of ten miles we ar- 
rived at the house of Mr. Ish, just in season to hear a Methodist 
circuit-preacher by the name of Jones. Here we spent the day and 
following night. Mr. Ish was a Presbyterian, and appeared to 
be a pious, intelligent, and liberal man. His wife was an amiable 
woman, and they lived in their double log-cabin, in a plain, but neat 
and comfortable style. In their family-circle there was peace and 
harmony, and their children were under the best go"^ ernment and 
instruction I had seen for many months. Mr. Ish lamented the low 
state of religion and the social habits that prevailed around him, 
but lived in expectation of a change in morals and habits soon as 
the land was brought into market, when the " squatter" class woulci 
sell their pre-emptions to industrious immigrants, and '' clear out." 
This settlement was extensive, and called the "Big Bottom." It 
extended ten or twelve miles along the river, opposite the town of 
Chariton. There was no school, and a majority of the squatters 
wanted none. A Baptist church of a dozen members had been 
gathered a few weeks previous to our visit, in the upper part of the 
settlement, and may be found on the minutes of the Mount Pleasant 
Association of 1820 with the name. Big Bottom. 

On the 15th, at night, we saw a comet plainly visible, which not 
a few regarded as the forerunner of another Indian war. 

On the Big Bottom was a cornfield, under a common fence, of 
nearly one thousand acres, and occupied by more than twenty fami- 
lies, each of which cultivated their separate plat of ground. A ma- 
jority of the families lived in the most primitive order of log-cabins 
around this field. Several we passed by were not "chinked nor 
daubed," and the chimneys were halves of logs, laid up as high as 
the mantlepiece, and served as a slight barrier to keep out the cows 
and hogs. Children and youth in almost countless numbers would 
show their tangled and matted locks, dingy faces, and squalid dress 
and appearance as we passed by. We had met with so little en- 



150 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

couragement in visiting, conversing, and praying "with tins class 
that we concluded to pass them by, and go on to Mr. Job's house 
(a Baptist family) where I had sent an appointmeijit to preach at 
night. This was on Saturday, the 16th of January. Though the 
appointment had not been circulated more than one hour before 
our arrival, the house was full and the people solemn and quite 
attentive. Wq conversed with several persons who appeared to be 
seriously inquiring the way of salvation. For mixed up with the 
ignorant, filthy, wretched squatters described, w^ere many decent, 
respectable, and religious families, who were patiently waiting for 
the land to be brought into market, when the squatters would give 
place to an improved class. 

On Sabbath, my colleague having gone over to Chariton to preach 
there, I preached two sermons during the day. 

The Sabbath, as a day of worship and rest, as a memorial of the 
resurrection of Christ, being so much neglected and profaned, even 
by professors of religion, and knowing the people on this frontier 
seldom or never got any instruction from any source on this sub- 
ject, I prepared myself, and preached to a crowded assembly from 
Isa. Iviii. 13, 14, associating with it,.Heb. iv, 9, 10. The people were 
attentive and solemn, and some seemed seriously impressed. After 
a short intermission I preached again from Bomans x. 1. I dis- 
missed the congregation as customary, but none seemed inclined 
to move. After a short time a few went out, while the rest stayed 
and sung hymns. I again exhorted, prayed, conversed, and by re- 
quest I gave out an appointment to preach on Tuesday. Some 
were in tears. This was the only place in which I saw any in- 
dications of a revival in the Boone's Lick settlements during my 
first visit. 

After dinner I. rode to the house of Mr. Ish, and preached again 
after night. Though it was dark and rainy I had a house full to 
hear me. On Tuesday, accompanied by Mr. Patterson, I rode to 
Mr. Job's, where both preached to an attentive congregation. 

Next day we bid farewell to our friends in Big Bottom, crossed 
the river to Chariton, and the next Sabbath both preached in that 
village. 

On Monday, January 25th, I gave the parting hand to my trav- 
eling companion, whom I left to perform missionary labor in the 
Boone's Lick country, and rode to Franklin.- My horse being lame, 
I had left him in Booneville, and hired one for the late tour. Find- 
ing his disease was the swinney, and that it would require many 
months to recover, I was compelled to leave him and buy another 



THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PROPOSED. 151 

to take me to St. Louis. On my way down I had appointments 
for frequent preaching. 

During the period of my visit to the Boone's Lick country, the 
winter was unusually mild and open ; no snow of consequence, 
light showers of rain, and for one-third of the nights no frost. I 
reached St. Louis on the 5th of February. 

February, 1819. It now became expedient to make such arrange- 
ments in the Western Missouri enterprise, as would save expense 
and promote its objects more effectually. It had been in our plan 
at first, even before we left Philadelphia for this region, to estabhsh 
a seminary for the common and higher branches of education ; and 
especially for the training of school-teachers and aiding the preach- 
ers now in office, or who may hereafter be brought forth in the 
churches. The education of the ministry is of primary importance 
in all new countries. A classical and scientific education, such as 
academies and colleges furnish, has never been regarded by Bap- 
tists as an indispensable requisite to entrance on the gospel min- 
istry, or to perform the duties of a Christian pastor. But there 
are certain branches of education that are indispensable to minis- 
terial usefulness. 

The mind must be trained to habits of thinking ; to logical rea- 
soning, to readiness of speech; to systematical arrangement of 
gospel truth, and to a practical appHcation of Christian duties. 
Mere declamation is not preaching the gospel. A man may stand 
up, rattle off words, tear his voice to tatters, and foam at the mouth, 
and yet not communicate one Scriptural idea, nor excite one spirit- 
ual emotion in his hearers. We have a very poor opinion of a 
man who has to write all his discourses, and read them off on the 
Sabbaths. If he has not, and cannot acquire the gift of *' aptness 
to teach," he had better let this work alone. And yet the writer 
has written out in full, and read from the platform not a few dis- 
courses in early times through the old settlements of Illinois and 
Missouri. This was done, in part, on special subjects, that seemed 
to require a cluster of facts, and sometimes dates, to produce the 
desired impression ; and partly to counteract the violent prejudices 
that prevailed against preparatory study and written outlines in 
pulpit discourses. The Puritans (Presbyterians and Congregation- 
alists) since their origin, about three himdred years ago, have 
gone to the extreme in their reading lessons. Baptists and Method- 
ists, until late years, may have erred on the other hand ; and for 
lack of concentrated thought, and writing out their thoughts in 
logical and consecutive order, became mere declahners ; or, rather, 



152 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

like the blind horse in a mill, go round and round on the few 
Scriptural ideas they profess. 

Our aim was not to establish a regular theological institution, or 
lay the foundation and build up a college. The writer never had 
the gift of anticipating and attempting great things. It has been 
his rule through life to do what he could for the present, and trust 
to Providence for the future. 

As my family was the largest, and better adapted to a (^untry 
life, and the burden of a boarding-school, while the circumstances 
of my colleague and his family made it expedient they should abide 
in town, we soon settled that question. The next was the location. 
Several points were thought of on both sides of the " Great Kiver," 
but it was no easy matter then to find a village, or a country set- 
tlement, where a respectable eeminary could be sustained and 
boarders accommodated. The Catholics had several institutions, 
they called seminaries and colleges ; but for literary, scientific, or 
theological purposes, they could never do much good among the 
American and Protestant population. It was deemed expedient 
for the writer to visit several places within fifty miles of St. Louis. 
St. Charles was one point to which our attention was directed ; and 
the preceding autumn we had aided in gathering a school, and by 
our influence with the citizens of that growing village to patronize 
a man whose initials were J. C. Mr. C.»was a Baptist preacher, and 
we honestly supposed he would cordially co-operate in all our Chris- 
tian enterprises. But to our sorrow, within less than a twelve- 
month, we found out by documents received that he was of doubt- 
ful standing among Baptists in Kentucky and Ohio, and regarded 
a disorderly person. He had been raised a Quaker, without the 
honesty or truthfulness of that sect. He had been baptized, li- 
censed, and ordained in Ohio, but never did have the confidence of 
clear-headed and sound-hearted Baptists. 

His personal appearance and address gained attention, and made 
temporary claims to the respect of his patrons. He was a good 
penman, but deficient in orthography, grammar, and other branches 
of a good English education. He had made some progress in plain 
mathematics, and had studied and practiced surveying, though 
superficial in that branch. Yet he had shrewdness and tact to find 
out he could not succeed and gather a profitable school without an 
assistant or partner. He was anxious — all in kindness to the mis- 
sionaries — to get one of us to join him. This made repeated visits 
to St. Charles necessary during the latter part of February and 
early in March 



ALTON IN 1819. 153 

The late Hon. Rufus Easton of St. Louis, who had become inter- 
ested in the landed property, projected as the site of Alton city, 
exacted the promise that we should not decide on our location 
until we had visited and explored that site, or rather the village 
now known as Upper Alton, two and a half miles in the rear, and 
on elevated and healthy ground. And we hope it will amuse and 
not offend our readers in that vicinage if they have a truthful dc- 
s«riptioii of the two Altons as they then appeared. 

We (singly — not our colleague) left St. Charles on February 2r)d, 
1819, and rode down to tlie "Point" towards Smeltzer's ferry, then 
located about three miles above the site for a city. Here we crossed 
the river a little after sunset, and had five miles to ride to the in- 
habited village. For three miles the pathway lay along the brink 
of the low water of the river under -the cliffs. Not far from the 
present site of the Alton House, there was a building, but whether 
a rough frame or a log-house it was too dark to perceive. (There 
were four cabins on the town site.) Here we obtained directions 
how to find and follow the dubious pathway through the brush and 
forest, up a long hill to the village. It was cloudy and dark, but 
on emerging from the forest, we found on every side the appear- 
ance of camp-fires. Log heaps, piles of brush, old stumps and 
other combustible materials were glowing with heat, and spreading 
an illumination over the plateau. Inquiry was made for a tavern 
or boarding-house, and we were directed to a long, low, ill-looking 
log-house. It was about forty feet in length, and probably sixteen 
feet wide, the doorway for entrance at the west end, and the dining- 
room, as it seemed to be used for eating purposes, wa^s the first 
room entered. Our readers are aware we had been in some dirty 
places. The table was supported by forks driven in the ground, 
on which rough, newly sawed boards extended perhaps twenty 
feet. An old cloth, filthy like the rest of the establishment, covered 
a portion of the table. A supply of dirty dishes indicated that 
several boarders might have had a late supper. The part from, 
which the dishes and cloth had been removed was occupied by 
three parties with cards, or something resembling spotted pieces 
of pasteboard ; all in harmony with the rest, for the cards and men 
were the dirtiest objects I had seen since our pilgrimage in the 
Boone's Lick country. On inquiring for the landlord, a shock- 
head, begrimed features, and soiled garment that appeared to 
belong to a "human" came in. The first thing was to find a stable 
and feed for a wearied horse. 

On exploring the premises, I found him in a log pen with some 



154 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

boards over one half the roof, and the mud mid-leg deep. Seeing 
no chance for better quarters, I left him munching corn, of which 
he had a supply. 

It did not take many minutes to frame and carry into effect a 
resolution to find better quarters for his rider. While living in 
St. Louis the preceding year, I had formed a slight acquaintance 
with the family of Doctor Erastus Brown, who in autumn had 
removed to Upper Alton. Offering a dirty, ragged boy a dime to 
pilot me to Dr. Brown's, slinging my saddle-bags on the arm, and 
climbing over stumps and logs, brought us to the snug, neat, 
newly-built log-house — no, we will call it a ''cottage" — where we 
found the doctor, his lady, and two or three little ones, in as 
comfortable quarters as any decent folks deserved to have in those 
frontier times. 

* " Doctor, I have called to impose myself upon your hospitality," 
and gave him a brief sketch of my recent adventure, amongst 
wretchedness, filth, drunken ribaldry, and low profanity of the 
boarding-house. 

Both declared a hearty welcome, and regretted I did not call on. 
them on my first arrival. I told the good lady not to get supper, 
for I had eaten a late dinner, and it was drawing towards bed-time, 
but in the quickest time she had the tea made and the table spread. 
I told her I was used to sleeping on the floor with my saddle for a 
pillow, and saddle-blanket for covering, but I was ushered into a 
neat little room, with a bed and covering fit for a prince. In all 
my wanderings, I never experienced as great and sudden a transition 
from wretchedness and filth to comfort and happiness. 

In the morning, after an early breakfast, in company with my 
friend, Dr. B., I made an exploration through the town, was intro- 
duced to several citizens, and learned all that was necessary of 
Upper Alton at that time, as the site for a seminary of learning. 

There were on the spot between forty and fifty families, living 
in log-cabins, shanties, covered wagons, and camps. Probably not 
less than twenty families were destitute of houses ; but were getting 
out materials and getting up shelters with industry and enterprise. 
I had become acquainted with the extremes of the social-^etate, and 
had no opportunity to enlarge my experience. Doubtless there 
were other families living as comfortably as the one whose hospi- 
tality I had shared. 

I found a school of some twenty-five or thirty boys and girls was 
taught by some backwoods fellow, but' the chance for a boarding- 
school was small indeed. There was the old settlement about the 
12 



8T. CHARLES — MISSISSIPPI. 155 

forks of Wood river and Rattan's prairie that might furnish a few 
scholars. The Macoupin settlement — real frontier rowdies — was 
thirty miles north, of a dozen famihes ; then three families had 
ventured over Apple creek. The emigrants to the Sangamon 
country went there the preceding winter. Peoria, on the Illinois 
river, was an old French village of twent^^-five cabins. Morgan, 
Cass, Scott, and all those counties along the Illinois river were the 
hunting-grounds of the Indians. The late Major Wadsworth and 
half a dozen families had made their pitch in Calhoun county. All 
the country to the east and north was one vast wilderness. Where 
then could scholars be found to fill a seminary at Upper Alton ? 
After deciding all such questions, I gave a fellow a quarter to clean 
the mud from my horse, paid for his fare, received a hearty invita- 
tion from Dr. and Mrs. Brown to call on them the next time I 
visited Alton, and made my way by another path back to Smeltzer's 
ferry. It was three or four years before I again visited Upper 
Alton, during which period quite a town had sprung up, but I 
never could find the locality of the dirty tavern house ; never again 
saw the family or its inmates, and was so fortunate as not to learn 
their names. It is thought not one of that breed can now be 
found in Madison county. 

Having crossed the river and rode a few miles, I preached to 
about twenty people, at the house of Mrs. Griffith, a widow lady, 
a dozen miles from St. Charles, which became one of my preaching- 
stations through the season. I rode home with Mr. Ayres, where 
I spent the night. Mr. A. and his wife were Presbyterians, and 
originated from Stamford, Ct. They were intelligent and respecta- 
ble people and lived in comfortable style. 

Myself and colleague were engaged in a mission compact in the 
F-a-r W-e-s-t, until it was dissolved by the joint action of the 
Board of the old Triennial Conventioji, and the missionaries. 

I have previously given an account of the organization of the 
" United Society for the spread of the Gospel," in Illinois and 
Missouri. This was the first missionary society that was formed 
in this part of the world. One object was to aid the preachers 
then in the country, to itinerate and preach the gospel to the 
destitute. 

I had volunteered to officiate as collecting agent, without charge, 
to provide the funds to sustain the itinerants. It was in this busi- 
ness I was engaged while traveling, from October, 1818, to April, 
1819. That is, while performing all sorts of work as an itinerant 
missionary, under supervision of the Board in Philadelphia,^ and in 



156 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

concert with my colleague in St. Louis, I did wliat I could to pro- 
vide means for the local society, that had been organized by the 
advice and approbation of three associations. One mode to secure 
contributions, was to organize " 3Iite Societies" in the churches. 
I had formed three such societies during my excursion in the 
Boone's Lick country. 

During the first w^eek in March (1819) it was decided that a new 
mission station should be established at St. Charles, a seminary 
planted there, and that I should take charge of that station, and 
that my colleague should maintain the post at St. Louis. During 
much of this month the weather was stormy ; rain, snow, and sleet 
frequent, the roads muddy, and vegetation late in putting forth. 

On the 19th I crossed the " Great River,"* and rode to Elder D. 
Badgley's residence. The road was intolerably muddy, and before 
I reached there the cold air was piercing. My object was to spend 
a few days, in providing funds for the " United Society for the 
spread of the gospel." 

The church I first visited in the Badgley settlement was called 
" Ogle's Creek," and the members were scattered over the field 
now occupied by Unity and the southern portion of Bethel 
churches. Here I formed the " Ogle's Creek Mite Society, auxili- 
ary," etc. This was the first social organization for missionary 
purposes ever formed in Illinois. 

On Monday, the 22d, in company with Elder Badgley, I started 
on a week's tou.*. "We rode across the spot of ground where I have 
since resided for more than thirty-five years, crossed Silver creek 
by deep fording, and spent the day and night with brother William 
Padon, the father of our venerable Elder John Padon. 

* This compound word as I give it includes every particle of 
meaning contained in the modern name Mississippi. Some fancy- 
monger, with more imagination than learning, since my first resi- 
dence on its banks, gave the modern name, ^^ Father of Waters.'''' 
It has just as much truth and real philology in it as another phrase, 
^^Darh and bloody ground," when applied to Kentucky. The word 
Mississippi is a compound word in the Algonquin language ; — the 
most extensive language of the Indians of North America, though 
corrupted into different dialects by the Ottawas, Sauks, Foxes, 
Miamis, and the tribes towards the Atlantic. Mr. Schoolcraft says, 
(1820) "It is now spoken nearly in its primeval purity b}"" the 
different bands of Chippeways. It is a compound of the word Missi, 
signifying great, and Sepe, a river." Let no crack-brained genius 
hereafter say or write ^^Falherof Waters.''^ 



THEOLOGY AND COMMON-SENSE. I57 

Elder Badgley-like many of our frontier preachers, who never 
knew any rules for the interpretation of Scripture, but their own 
fancy, or as some of them mistakingly thought, the Spirit of God 
taught them the meaning-had some queer speculations, which he 
occasionally preached to the world. 

We had a long but friendly talk about the fall of man, and the 
l^md of death Adam died, according to the threatening denounced 
on the partaldng of the forbidden fruit,-'' ^, shall not eat of it 
neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.- (Gen. iii. 3.) I have heard 
the whnnsical dogma preached, not merely on these frontiers but 
m -York State," in early times, that man did not die a spiritual 
death but a moral death; so we held a profitless discussion about 
Bpiritual and moral death, and all the collateral circumstances and 
contingencies. 

These crude notions had their origin in ignorance of the meaning 
of words, and the distinction between the literal and figurative 
meanmg of words and phrases. A good English dictionary and a 
careful exammation of the meaning of words, with a smatterin- of 
the elements of rhetoric, about - tropes and figures," and a slight 
touch of logic and mental philosophy would have been of -reat 
service to this class of preachers. But some of them were as 
much afraid of a dictionary as they were of a missionary. 
^ It would be -a capital thing if we could preserve the golden mean 
m the education of ministers, and especially young ones. But 
there is such a tendency to extremes in every thing, that it is next 
to impossible to keep the middle track, and educate our vouno- 
ministry in the Scriptures. They are taught-or rather in our 
modern institutions, they are carried over superficially, a wide field 
m science and Hterature, and learn very Httle of that book, doc- 
trinally practically and spiritually, which God has given, and out 
ot which he has commanded them to teach the people. Some of 
these ilhterate old men have studied the Bible carefully and with 
prayer, and guided by plain common-sense, and deep reverence for 
the things of God, overflow with true BibHcal knowledge, and 
spiritual emotions; though they sometimes make blunders in 
speech and miss the meaning of figurative language. And yet 
young preachers who have dabbled a httle in Latin and Greek are 
apt to turn up their noses at these old fathers. Such is poor 
human nature in young and old. 

Tuesday morning, March 23d, we rode a northern course be- 
tween Silver creek and Looking Glass prairie to Elder Robert 
Brazil s house, where the heavy rains and our preaching appoint- 



158 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ments detained us till Friday. On this trip we rode over the town 
plat of Lebanon, then containing- five log-cabins. We preached 
daily, visited some families, and formed the " Looking Glass Prairie 
Mite Society." 

Elder Badgley (who was one of the managers) was soon after 
appointed an itinerant missionary for Illinois, and performed two 
months missionary service at sixteen dollars per month ; and the 
Mite Societies I formed, as agreed upon, paid their funds over to 
the missionary, and he reported to the treasurer in St. Louis. 

Returning to Mr. Padon's on the 26th, I preached in the 
vicinity at liight. My congregation were three-fourths Methodist ; 
for Payfield's settlement was a regular old " stamping ground" for 
Methodism. 

Silver creek, from the heavy rains since we crossed it, was 
swimming deep, and the bottom land was covered with water, up 
to the mid-sides of a horse, and the prospect of reaching our next 
appointment was quite dubious. However, Brother Padon, who 
was inured to frontier life, had the will to help us onward, and 
" where there is a will there's a way." 

Saturday morning the sun shone out, and after an early break- 
fast, our host yoked up his oxen, and hauled a big trough to Silver 
creek, and crossed over the missionaries with their saddles and lug- 
gage, and swam the horses along side the feeding-trough, converted 
into a canoe. It required three trips to do this. 

Amongst the contrivances of Infinite Wisdom for man's accom- 
modation is his providential operations in forming the banks of all 
our creeks and rivers in this valley, so as to leave a skirt of land 
along the border, some four or five feet above the overflow of the 
bottoms. This furnished a dry and convenient plateau for saddling 
and mounting our horses. We rode half a mile through deep 
water, and after crossing Ogle's and other creeks, and b^ following 
a "blind trail," we reached old Mr. Seybold's residence in season to 
meet the httle Baptist church then called Cantine Creek. 

The situation of Mr. Seybold's residence (one of our old pioneers, 
long since deceased) was about three miles north of west from 
Troy. Here we preached on Saturday night and Sabbath, and 
formed the " Cantine Creek Mite Society." 

The state of religion throughout the whole country was very 
low ; not a revival could be heard of in Illinois and Missouri. The 
ministers and many of the members of any degree of intelligence 
in the old Illinois Association, at that time, were friendly to these 
missionary announcements. At the preceding session (October 



MISSION-SOCIETIES APPROVED OF. 159 

10th, 1818), the following record was placed on the minutes without 
opposition, and apparently with honesty of purpose. It was the 
twentieth item : 

" Brother Peck presented the plan of a society to employ mis- 
sionaries, and promote common schools amongst the whites and 
Indians, which we desire to see carried into effect, and which we 
recommend to the churches." 

I also give the record for Lord's-day, October 11th, Elder William 
Jones being clerk : 

"A respectable concourse of people having miet, Brother Peck 
preached a missionary sermon from Exodus xxxiii. 15 : * If thy 
presence go not with me, carry us not up thence.' A collection 
for the Indian fund of the Western Baptist Mission Society, of 
eleven dollars and twenty-five cents, was received by Brother Peck." 

[This money was applied to the expenses of the Indian mission 
in the AYabash country under Elder Isaac McCoy.] ^ 

The record further says : 

" Brother Jones preached from Heb. iv. 3, and Brother Musick 
from Isaiah liii. 1. Brother Peck closed by giving some interesting 
accounts of religious revivals in the Northern States and elsewhere." 

The "plan of a society" to employ missionaries took the form of 
the "United Society for the spread of the gospel." Five months 
after this act of the only association then in Illinois, the venerable 
David Badgley, the first Baptist minister who settled his family in, 
the Illinois country, and the missionary of another Board, were 
forming "Mite Societies," auxiliary to the first missionary organ- 
ization in the Far West. 

On Monday, the 29th, after a violent shower, with some thunder 
and hail, I preached in the log-cabin of Messrs. Collins, three 
brothers, who came to St. Louis in December, 1817, at the same 
time the writer and his family arrived. They came over the river 
early in 1818, purchased a farm and the cabin they then occupied, 
and where I preached the first sermon ever heard on the site of 
Collinsville. The Brethren Lemen and others had preached in the 
adjacent settlements a dozen years previous. 

On the 8th of April my family was removed to the town of 
St. Charles. Here we commenced a literary institution with the 
name of St. Charles Academy, having formed a partnership with 
J. C, heretofore mentioned. 

The number of scholars was about thirty, but soon increased 
to forty. At the same time, Eev. Charles S. Kobinson, a Presby- 
terian missionary from the Eastern States, established a meeting 



160 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

in the same village. He received occasional aid from another mis- 
sionary (Rev. Mr. T.) 

I heard Mr. T. preach several times. His sermons were good, 
sometimes eloquent; but — as the laborer said to the prophet 
(2 Kings vi. 5) : " Alas, master I — it was borrowed." One from 
Luke xiv. 18 was from Burder's Village Sermons. At the monthly 
concert for prayer in St. Louis, he gave us a lecture from Daniel 
ix. 1-3. This discourse was chiefly made up from one then recently 
preached before the East Tennessee Bible Society. A portion I 
recognized as having been first preached and pubhshed in the 
Eastern States. 

Ministers of the gospel ought to collect all the ideas and thoughts 
they can from every source, work them over in their own mental 
laboratory, and clothe them in their own language. But, if they 
copy other men's sermons, and retail them off as their own, those 
present who recognize them, ought to exclaim : " Alas, master ! 
for it was borrowed." 

To lessen, as much as possible, the expense of the mission, I 
made every effort to sustain my family by the fruits of my ovra 
labor. Attendance in school, domestic affairs, and cultivating a 
garden, kept me busily employed, and in a state of mind that was 
a poor qualification foi* a preacher of Christ. There is such a 
tendency in human nature to become worldly-minded, that it re- 
quires constant watchfulness, and the abiding impression that the 
ministry of the gospel is the paramount business of life, and every 
other pursuit to be kept in subordination to this one great calling. 
And I have no question that every man who has felt himself to 
be called of God, and been set apart by the Church to the work of 
the ministry, has no right to forsake it for any earthly advantage. 
And every one who does forsake this calling, because of its sacri- 
fices and inconveniences, and enter on the business of the world 
that he may get rich, or that his family may be placed in respecta- 
ble and fashionable circumstances, should be " unfrocked," as our 
Episcopal friends express it. Such men have either made a sad 
mistake in getting into the ministry, without those elements of 
mind and character required in the gospel, or they will suffer the 
chastisement of a merciful Saviour, and fail in their pursuit of 
worldly prosperity and happiness. There is an immeasurable dif- 
ference between such men and those ministers who provide a 
support for their families by their own industry and the economy 
and household-management of their wives ; while they feel and act 
as though preaching the gospel was the paramount business of 



SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 161 

Ufe, and the class who give up that calling hecause it does not 
afford them the income necessary to gratify their earthly desires. 
Ministers who sustain themselves, and labor in the ministry for the 
salvation of sinners and sustaining feeble churches, deserve all 
praise. And while the ministers of Christ are entitled to a support 
from the churches they serve (wherever ability exists), they should 
be encouraged and commended whenever they devote such time 
and talents as they have to the cause of Christ. 

During the summer of 1P19, amidst the secular employments 
alluded to (for teaching school is no more a gospel service than 
plowing corn), I generally had appointments to preach in destitute 
neighborhoods, in the town of St. Charles, and occasionally in 
St. Louis. On the 18th of April we opened a Sunday-school, which 
was the first known in that town. Another department of labor 
was preaching to the colored people, chiefly slaves, on Sabbath 
evenings. Several became seriously disposed, professed to be 
savingly converted to God, and some were baptized. 

During this season I suffered afflictions from impurity of the 
blood. A series of severe boils annoyed me for three months, and 
on two Sabbaths when I had appointments in the country, I was 
prevented, from inability to ride on horseback. Thus the summer 
passed away without any thing of particular notice. During vaca- 
tion the latter part of June, I made a missionary tour to the Salt 
river settlements, and found a call for Bibles and Testaments in 
every neighborhood. The state of rehgion, even where small 
churches existed, was very low. There were two or three preach- 
ers without any regular standing in the churches of any evangelical 
denomination, whose conduct was suspicious, and who did more 
harm than good. Church-members were eagerly engaged in worldly 
pursuits. They attended church-meetings monthly, when they had 
nothing else to do, and preaching occasionally when some itinerants 
passed through the settlement ; but I seldom found one who wor- 
shipped God at home, or trained up his children in the way they 
should go. If the mother was a real Christian, the children were 
not wholly neglected. There were instances that came under my 
observation, though few, in which the mother made it a matter of 
principle to talk with her children and pray with them ; and the 
blessed effects are visible in some families to this day. 



162 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Review of tho Western Mission — Position and prospects of Messrs. 
* Peck and Welch — Experiences — Dissolution of their connection 
as Missionaries of the Board. 

The very full reminiscences of Mr. Peck, contained in the 
preceding chapters, here close. Before taking up the thread 
of the narrative of the future years, to be gathered from his 
journals and correspondence, it seems appropriate "to make 
up the reckoning," in sailor phrase, in regard to the progress 
hitherto secured. Between two and three years had now 
elapsed since Messrs. Peck and Welch had reached St. Louis 
and commenced their mission and explorations. . They had 
found in the territory and its neighborhood remote from Il- 
linois, more Baptist churches and ministers (so-called) than 
they had expected. The larger part were feeble, unintelligent, 
and peculiarly susceptible of prejudices against better-in- 
formed, more zealous, and ampler-sustained ministers, coming 
among them, and, as they could readily perceive, supplanting 
them in influence and favor with the people. Neither of these 
missionaries had then had as ample experience as afterward 
in dealing with the prejudices, and guarding against the jeal- 
ousy of this class of preachers and churches. On a candid 
and thorough review of all their proceedings during these 
trying and eventful years, they might doubtless see how it 
would have been possible to have so modified some of their 
acts, and so have guarded some of their deportment, as to 
have escaped, or at least diminished, a portion of the un- 
toward influences which were raised up to oppose them. The 
anti-mission party among American Baptists was just then 
taking form, and assuming its attitude of hostility to those of 
their brethren who heartily engaged in evangelizing opera- 
tions, both at home and abroad It naturally allied itself to 



THE SCHOOL AT ST. CHARLES. 163 

the antinomianism and selfishness too prevalent in all partially 
sanctified hearts. It found, too, one of its securest intrench- 
ments in ignorance, prejudice, and jealousy in the ministry. 
There would occur frequent opportunity for misrepresentation ; 
and of this a portion of those ministers availed themselves 
with unscrupulous avidity. The best of men are imperfect ; 
and there will be furnished abundant occasion among those 
seeking occasion to find fault with the spirit or the manage- 
ment of those who were struggling with all their might to 
introduce a more orderly, intelligent, and efficient system of 
operations among these sparsel3^-scattered churches, and their 
illiterate and, therefore, very naturally jealous and prejudiced 
ministers. • 

Some infelicities, too, were just beginning to manifest their 
influence in the associate in Mr. Peck's school operations in 
St. Charles. Indeed it was quite impossible to effect very much 
in teaching, while so many calls for preaching were responded 
to, at such a distance from the residence of the missionaries, 
either in St. Louis or St. Charles. A double object was re- 
garded in attempting these schools. First, to furnish better 
specimens of teaching than hitherto existed in that vicinity, 
and to prepare more competent instructors for the many 
schools needed ; and next, to secure in a great degree their 
support from the tuition they should receive. The former of 
these objects was measurably attained. But the latter signally 
failed. After deducting the expenses for rents, assistants, etc. , 
and the various losses from those unable or unwilling to pay, 
the net income of the St. Louis school was never large, and 
that- at St. Charles still less. 

To some of us at this distance of time, and but little ac- 
quainted with the concomitant circumstances, it no doubt 
seems strange that these brethren had not, in the outset, con- 
centrated their labors more on one or two important points, 
and by thus more fully demonstrating their full success and 
manifest advantages, have carried ampler and earlier con- 
viction to the minds of all. The fact was that no small portion 
of the censure they incurred was for going and settling them- 



164 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

selves in the chief towns to the neglect of the scattered pioneer- 
dwellers in the wilderness. How baseless such an allegation 
was, their abundant travels and exposures in the cabins of the 
poor and destitute abundantly confirm ; while the motive for 
their efforts, and for their too frequent and long absences 
from home, is made manifest. They tried very resolutely 
to take away occasion of offense from those too ready to seek 
such occasion. 

As the natural result of this course, though themselves 
very full}'' convinced of the importance of giving more time 
and attention to St. Louis especially, they had been so much 
diverted from and hindered in this work, that the church- 
edifice, which two years earlier had been commenced, was 
scarcely completed ; their congregations had very much dwin- 
dled ; and their taunting opponents seemed likely to realize 
their hope of the discomfiture of the missionaries in their en- 
deavor to plant firmly in that important post the banner of 
the Cross. 

Yery sad, though not altogether desponding, are some of 
their letters and the entries in the journals of the mission at 
this period. To add to the disquietude of Mr. Peck, he seems 
to have suffered greatly at this period, in view of his own 
want of more fervent zeal and pious devotedness to the spir- 
itual duties of his high calling. His diary for some weeks is 
filled with lamentations over his want of greater conformity 
to his Saviour ; and the fervent prayers here recorded show 
how far he was in reality from the deadness of soul which he 
lamented. 

The autumn of 1820 brought also other experiences of a 
most afflictive and trying character to our brother and his 
family. That season proved very sickly, and disease and 
death spread their pallid influences all around them. First, 
his eldest son, a fine, promising lad between ten and eleven 
years old, who had begun to prove a comfort and joy to his 
parents, by rendering himself useful in his father's long and 
repeated absences from home, was prostrated by the prevalent 
fever, and for a few days hung trembling between life and 



TRIALS AND SICKNESS OF MR. PECK. 165 

death. With agonizing importunity the cry was uttered: 
Spare him ! Spare him ! But such was not the will of 
Heaven. He died, and two days afterward the brother-in- 
law of Mr. Peck, a member of his family, Mr. S. Paine, also 
died. Thus God sorely tried the faith and the submission of 
his servant. But even in the furnace he found the sustaining 
presence and favor of his Saviour. Looking up to him with 
adoring reverence and love, he was enabled from the heart 
to say : *' Though he slay me, I will trust in' him." 

He was himself called to pass through a severe attack of 
illness ; and when physicians and friends all gave him up for 
lost, it pleased the Lord almost miraculously to raise him up 
again. The sanctified influence of all this varied but severe 
discipline upon his own soul was eminently salutary. Fer- 
vently had he been praying that the Lord would quicken him 
again, and give to him the true appreciation of the blessedness 
of his chosen ones ; and specially that he would w^arm his 
heart to engage in his missionary and evangelical labors with 
the holy zeal which he had anticipated as he contemplated 
them at a distance. The prayer was now answered. And 
with a heart tremulous with deep emotion, and smarting from 
recent chastisement, he was enabled to cleave to the hand 
which had smitten him, not in anger but in tenderest love. 
His journal and his letters breathe now the spirit of deadness 
to the world, and an absorbed engagedness in his Master's 
work ; of concern for the welfare of souls around him, and 
the forgiveness of injury, which indicate the unmistakable 
presence and power of the in-dwelling Spirit of God. How 
readily he now found opportunities to plead with all the un- 
renewed around him to be reconciled to God. How easy it 
was, in every family where he gained admission, to converse 
personally with the inmates, and press home the urgencies of 
the great salvation. In preaching and prayer, too, he seemed 
like another man ; so much so, that it was very noticeable 
among his friends, some of whom thought it an almost su?^ 
indication that his work on earth was nearlv done, and that 



166 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the Lord was rapidly ripening him for the blessedness on 
high. 

In the mean time very considerable changes were awaiting 
him in his external relations. In a private letter to his es- 
teemed former teacher, Dr. Staughton, the Secretary of the 
Mission Board, he had intimated the difficulties experienced in 
his and his colleague's attempts to do any thing effective for 
the poor Indians from the point of their present location ; and 
Rev. Isaac McCoy was urging his coming to the aid of that 
mission under his care at Fort Wayne. It was thrown out 
rather as an inquiry by Mr. Peck to elicit further light as to 
whatever opinion the Secretary, from his intercourse with tho 
Board, might be disposed to form, and privately communicate 
it to him. But not very unreasonably it was otherwise inter- 
preted, and made the ground of rather a summary proceeding. 
The convention of 1820 was much engrossed at just this period 
both with the Burman Mission and the founding of the Colum- 
bian college for the training of their missionaries and others, 
and, having listened with concern to some anti-mission com- 
plaints from the West, proceeded to direct the Board to dis- 
continue the mission at St. Louis, The following is the 
minute entered on the records of the Western mission : 

July 9th, 1820. The missionaries received official intelligence from 
the Secretary of the Board that this mission was closed for the 
following reasons : 

1. The want of ample funds for its vigorous prosecution. 

2. A supposition on the part of the Board that this region would 
be soon supplied by the immigration into it of preachers from the 
Middle and Eastern States. 

3. The opposition in the West was also urged as a reason for its 
being abolished. The triennial convention had accordingly recom- 
mended this course, which the Board, as in duty bound, thus car- 
ried out : 

Brother Welch is requested to continue his labors in St. Louis 
as a private minister and not as a missionary, no aid being promised 
him. Brother Peck is directed as speedily as practicable, on the 
termination of the present year, to remove to Fort Wayne, and 
join Eev. Mr. McCoy in his labors among the Indians. Thus term- 
inates the Western Mission. Attest : J. M.Peck, Secretary. 



CLOSE OP THE WESTERN MISSION. 16t 

The missionaries experienced no little mortification and 
surprise by this abrupt and unexpected termination of their 
arrangements and connection. Little more than three years 
had elapsed since their appointment, as they understood, for 
life. And though they had expected to have made their 
efforts in the school more remunerative, to lighten the expense 
of the mission to the Board ; and though they had antici- 
pated a more generous contribution from those to whom they 
ministered, and had in a too sanguine confidence relied on the 
hope of larger and earlier success in their missions, yet they 
were not prepared for so summary a winding up of their 
joint labors. It is noteworthy, however, that neither of them 
became in the slightest degree alienated from the mission 
cause, or even from the Board. On the contrary, both of them 
remained for scores of years the faithful and devoted friends 
of this cause. Mr. Welch, by domestic duties of an impera- 
tive character, was soon called away from that field for a long 
season. But he had too largely adventured his labors, en- 
terprise, and even his little pecuniary patrimony, in the effort 
to rear the house of the Lord, and carry forward to mature 
strength the feeble Baptist Church in St. Louis, to prove 
recreant to its interests. For years afterward his best energies 
were often put forth to liquidate its debts and promote its 
welfare, though not permitted by Providence to become a 
resident preacher there. 

The feelings and views of the other missionary may be 
learned from the following communication to the Board ; 

St. Louis County, November 17^/i,1820. 

To the Corres'ponding Secretary of the Baptist Board of Foreign 

Missions ; 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — After a silence of some months I resume 
my pen once more to address the Board. The hand of God has 
lain heavily upon me and the waves of trouble have rolled in fright- 
ful torrents over my head. First, I was attacked with bilious fever 
in its most malignant form, which soon brought me past all ex- 
pectations of recovery ; but when the hopes of friends and physi- 
cians failed, a good and gracious Providence was pleased to raise 



168 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

me, and the same mercy has now restored me to my usual health. 
Two of my younger children were sick at the same time. 

The first week of October was a peculiarly trying time in ray 
family. My oldest son— a promising, sprightly youth— was smitten 
by the destroying *ngel ; and my brother-in-law, Mr. Paine, followed 
two days after. My oldest daughter then lay low, but has since 
recovered. Under these accumulated trials we have enjoyed a 
spirit of submission. Why should a worm complain at what in- 
finite wisdom and goodness have done ! 

A letter from the Secretary, together with the annual report of 
the Board, announced to me the important change in this mission ; 
but the intelligence was received while I lay on the verge of the 
grave. All things considered, perhaps the Board have pursued the 
best course by dropping the mission ; but they widely mistake when 
they deduce their reason " from the numerous emigrations of min- 
isters to our Western settlements, that the period has arrived when 
it is no longer necessary to support any brethren as missionaries 
at these places." But one Baptist preacher has emigrated to Mis- 
souri, within one hundred miles of St. Louis, since our arrival, and 
we heartily wish him back again ; and not more than two or three 
in IDinois, within the same radius, from this centre. Nor is there 
a better prospect in future for this species of emigration in the 
same extent of country. To reiterate what has been repeated often, 
this region is deploeably destitute— the reports of professors of re- 
hgion in Kentucky and elsewhere to the contrary notwithstanding. 

llie direction of the Board that I should repair to Fort Wayne 
has deeply engaged my thoughts. What the Board have done I 
am not disposed to find fault with, but regret that they have ex- 
pressed in so decisive terms "that Mr. Peck at the close of the 
present year immediately become a laborer with Mr. McCoy." On 
this point I have serious, conscientious difficulties. The field around 
me appears too important to be thus early vacated. The sphere 
of useful effort is certainly widening. With all the time I can spare 
I am unable to visit even occasionally one-half of the destitute 
churches and settlements that plead for the gospel. I hope I have 
no objection to hving and laboring amongst the Indians and devoting 
the remnant of my days to their welfare ; but by whom shall Jacob 
arise here, for he is very small? The distance from this to Fort 
Wayne is not less than five hundred miles, near the northwest corner 
of Ohio. The expense of removing must be consideral^le, and when 
there, continued expense must be incurred. Here I can minister 
largely to my own necessities. I have no wish to incur further 



MR. PECK REMAINS AT ST. LOUIS. 1G9 

expense to the mission. That has ah-eady been greater than I ever 
anticipated, I have felt intensely desirous for the time to come 
when missionary efforts here would no longer burden a liberal 
public abroad. That time, I think, has already come. Though my 
usefulness must be abridged greatly by it, I am willing to labor with 
my hands, or to use any lawful effort to support my family, for the 
furtherance of the gospel. It really seems to me as if the voice of 
Providence was saying to me : " Stay where you are," especially 
since the late distressing change in my family. May I offer one 
consideration more ? The health of Mrs. Peck is somewhat pre- 
carious. The vigor of her constitution has been impaired by her 
removal to this country. In case of the proposed removal to Fort 
"Wayne, she must (with a babe but a few weeks old) have female 
help on the road, and that is next to impossible to get in this 
country. All these considerations induce me to request the Board 
to reconsider their resolution concerning the field of my future 
labor. I do not wish to relinquish the principles of a missionary 
and it weuld be my desire still to be under the wing of the Board, 
though not as to support, in case they will recall my appointment 
to Fort Wayne. Should circumstances prevent Brother Welch's 
return to settle in St. Louis or vicinity, I do not see how I could 
leave this region ; for St. Louis must not be relinquished by the 
Baptists. 

With sentiments of continued respect. I am yours, etc., 

J. M. Peck. 

To ^Ev. Wm. Staughton, Cor. Sec. 

Six months later, viz., in May, 1821, Dr. Staughton wrote 
to Mr. Peck : " The Board would have preferred your settling 
down with Brother McCoy, but the reasons you assign for 
continuing in the vicinity of St. Louis are so entirely satis- 
factory, that the propriety of complying with your wishes 
struck the mind of every member." Sufficiently equivocal 
this, certainly, for the most astute Secretarj^ But it seems 
to have been understood on both sides as closing the mission- 
aries' relations of dependence on the support of the Board. 
To obviate all possibility of misconception hereafter, it has 
been deemed necessary to give these statements in full, from 
the records of the Western mission, which have been carefully 

preserved. 

15 



170 MEMOm OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

New Position of Mr. Peck — Timely Aid from Massachusetts — Re- 
moval to Rock Spring. 

It may easily be supposed that Mr. Peck would feel some 
solicitude in regard to his future course, after the dissolution 
of his connection with the missionary Board which sent him 
out, and hitherto had sustained him. For although their re- 
mittances had been neither large nor regular, and more than 
once the missionaries were for many months without answers 
to their letters, or supplies for their wants, so that they were 
left in great perplexity, yet eventually the Board made them 
remittances which relieved them from suffering, and they 
were thus enabled more vigorously to prosecute the important 
object of their designation. Now, however, all expectation 
of further aid from this quarter had been dissipated. At the 
same time they had done absolutely nothing to educate the 
churches which they had formed, or others which they in 
part supplied, in the duty of contributing of their carnal things, 
while the preachers were laboriously striving to promote 
their spiritual welfare. This, at first view, seems unaccount- 
able and wrong. But there were peculiar circumstances war- 
ranting, or at least apologizing for it. These churches were 
very small and poor, their members struggling with the infe- 
licities of a new settlement, and having every thing to do for 
themselves. The St. Louis church were deeply involved iu 
debt for the church-edifice ; and it was thought better for the 
time being to encourage them to concentrate their efforts on 
paying the interest on this debt, rather than say any thing to 
them about salary for the preachers. Moreover they were 
aware of the prejudice existing in many minds against them 
as missionaries ; and for the same reason that Paul, in pecu- 
liar circumstances, would not be chargeable to young churches 



MR. PECK WITHOUT SUPPORT. lYl 

which he planted and preached to, lest odium should thereby 
be attached to the gcspel, so these missionaries wished as far 
as possible to remove the reproach of having any worldly 
interest of their own in planting and watering these germs 
of a future and more perfect evangelization in that new field. 

They had formed missionary societies wherever they had 
deemed it prudent and practicable, and devoted the proceeds 
faithfully to sustaining traveling preachers — the best which 
could b^obtained in that region — to preach among the desti- 
tute. Moreover, they hoped by this means to conciliate the 
favor of these humble men to the idea of the wisdom and 
beneficence of the missionary cause. But probably the con- 
tributions were too small, irregular, and unreliable, to have 
much favorable effect of this kind. Certain it is that some 
of these recipients of the bounty of the churches, raised with 
utmost difficulty by the solicitations of Messrs. Peck ' and 
Welch, and paid over in full to those thus employed, turned 
against the very men who had tried to feed them. Some 
actually went over to the anti-mission party, and others 
evinced a jealous and unlovely spirit toward their benefactors 
which it was hard for the latter patiently to bear. In this 
way, one after another of the associations and churches, which 
they had influenced successfully at first to favor the missionary 
cause, now turned against it, and seemed inclined to repudiate 
them altogether. 

It became, therefore, a matter of extreme difficulty and 
delicacy for Mr. Peck now to introduce this matter of needed 
support for his family, where he had been accustomed to give 
his labors freely. More than ever did he therefore feel in- 
clined to obtain as early as practicable a little farm, by the 
cultivation and products of w^hich he might in a considerable 
degree sustain himself. But even to make this experiment 
required a considerable outlay, and he was now penniless, the 
sickness of himself and family having entirely exhausted every 
means. 

Early in the year 1822, a correspondence was opened be- 
tween himself and brethren in Boston, which ere long led to 



172 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

his appointment as the missionary of the Massachusetts Bap- 
tist Missionary Society. His first commission in their service, 
signed by the honored names of Thomas Baldwin, President, 
and Daniel Sharp, Secretary, is dated Boston, March 12th, 
1822. The correspondence which led to his appointment is 
interesting and equally honorable to both parties ; but as it is 
chiefly a recapitulation of the facts above stated, it need not 
here be reproduced. The letter of the Secretary, accompany- 
ing the commission, stated that the society's appropriation 
would be five dollars a week for the time actually spent in 
their service, and that he would be expected to raise as much 
as practicable of this amount on the field of his labors, and 
make regular returns of his labors and receipts. Here, then, 
was a small but reliable foundation laid for some aid in his 
family's support. Relieved so far from anxieties which had 
preyed upon his spirit, he seems to have entered with un- 
wonted ardor upon his chosen work. His family remained 
for some time in the vicinity of St. Charles, but we find him 
very often in St. Louis cheering on the feeble Baptist churches 
there ; and the remainder of his time was pretty equally 
divided between the destitute portions of Missouri and Illinois. 
After balancing all the considerations for and against this 
step, he came to the conclusion that it would best promote the 
interests of the mission and the cause of Christ for him to 
settle his family in Illinois. Accordingly, in the end of the 
month of April, 1822, he removed to Rock Spring, which 
henceforth became his family residence. Here he obtained a 
half-section of unimproved land, and with some little assist- 
ance from kind neighbors he was enabled to erect such build- 
ings as made them measurably comfortable, and began the 
cultivation of a little portion of the land to aid in supporting 
his household. The time, and care, and toil, which he de- 
voted to this seems to have been at times oppressive to him ; 
but though he complains of its deadening his religious sus- 
ceptibilities, he did not intermit or shrink from these en- 
deavors till his family was made comfortable. His residence 
on the Illinois side of the great river, though still in proximity 
to St. Louis and the scenes of his former principal labors, 



SETTLEMENT AT ROCK SPRING. 173 

brought him into closer connection with many brethren, minis- 
ters, and others, whom he ardently loved and esteemed till 
the end of his earthly course. The Lemens were among the 
former ; and their living, increasing friendship and esteem 
were based on the solid excellencies mutually recognized and 
appreciated in each other. Yery many others, both ministers 
and private Christians, and some who as philanthropists, 
patriots, and promoters of the welfare of these incipient set- 
tlements in the wilderness, became intimately connected with 
him in counsels and labors, will be often mentioned in the 
course of this narrative. 

A little band of brethren, chiefly from Georgia, had settled 
around the new home he had chosen, and they desired to be 
formed into a church. Accordingly, on the 26th of May, 
1822, the organization and public recognition of the church 
was consummated. The day being very stormy, many were 
detained from attending ; but sermons were preached by 
B]*ethren Peck and Kinney, the church was constituted in duo 
form, and the Lord's Supper administered. It was a solemn 
and interesting occasion. 

The following Sabbath found him ministering to the St. 
Louis church, and on the 3d of June he set forth on a labori- 
ous tour of some weeks to the eastward, visiting the TYabash 
Association and several places of importance, both in Illinois 
and Indiana. The following extracts from his journal will 
indicate the state of feeling at that time in the association, 
and the efforts he made to promote the cause of truth : 

Saturday, 8^^ June. Reached the association, New Princeton, 
Ind., and was affectionately received by Brother William Polke and 
some other brethren, but soon discovered strong prejudices and 
jealousies on account of my missionary character. No 'seat was 
allowed me. However, the association appointed me to preach on 
the morrow. Preached at night at a brother's where I tarried. 

Lord's-day, 9^7i. A BrotherAnderson and Brother Parker preached. 
In my interview with Brother Parker I alluded to his address about 
missions, and told him I could cheerfully give liim my hand, as a 
conscientious and well-meaning, though greatly-mistaken brother. 
He is a most determined opposer of the whole mission system. In 
the evening I preached in the court-house at Princeton on the sub- 



174 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ject of missions, and spent the night with Brother Devin. M^ 
mind quite engaged. 

Monday, lOi/i. I preached before the association on missions 
The Wabash Association, ' thougli, while Brother McCoy was 
amongst them, warm friends of the mission — at least a majority 
were — have in too many instances become opposed. Prejudices 
have risen up, and some are, I doubt not, influenced by selfish 
motives. It appears very evident that Parker is determined not 
to yield, or give up the ground he has assumed. To effect his pur- 
pose he has been engaged for some time among a portion of the 
churches. 

After some amendments to the constitution of the association 
had been discussed, the subject of missions came up. This was 
occasioned by one church having charge*d another with having 
supported missions as constituting a grievance. This gave full 
scope for a discussion on the propriety of missions. Mr. Parker 
opposed them with all the ingenuity in his power, and Mr. Wm. 
Polke as ably defended them. I then obtained leave to speak, and 
entered on a detail of facts connected with this subject. The whole 
discussion lasted about five hours, and excited peculiar interest in 
the public mind. A large assembly seemed unwilling to stir from 
the place till the decision was reached. I have never before met 
with so determined an opposer to missions in every aspect. But 
the decision gave a decided victory to the cause, of missions, fully 
sustaining the church which had contributed to their support. 

In the evening preached again on missions, and received a gen- 
erous collection in aid of the cause at Princeton court-house. Passed 
the night with Judge Prince. The citizens in and about Princeton 
have treated me with the utmost affection and respect. I was in- 
vited to almost every house. A disposition to hear me preach was 
manifested beyond any thing before witnessed in the West. Let 
me never be so ungrateful as to forget the kindness they have 
shown. The Lord reward them. 

Then he proceeded as far as Yincennes, and preached in 
various places, riding here and there, in sunshine and storm, 
striving to instruct and comfort the churches, and win the 
unbelieving to the Saviour. On returning home he thus 
reviews the journey : 

"I have been absent from home twenty days; have rode four 
hundred and fifty-six miles, preached twenty-five times, visited 
many families and settlements, and gained much information in 



MISSION TO MISSOURI. 1T5 

regard to the destitution of this part of our country, the great 
need of missionaries, and the promising fields which are ripening." 

After a few days spent with his family, our brother left for 
a mission tour in Missouri. Passing a Sabbath in St. Louis, 
he ofl&ciated at the funeral of a poor Baptist brother, just 
arrived from Ohio, with a wife and six children. They were 
all sick and in the most distressing circumstances. He speaks 
with some admiration of the humane and generous attention 
manifested by the citizens generally in their great affliction — 
consoling them in the bereavement, and contributing to supply 
their needs. 

Pursuing his route onward through Feefee and Bonhomme, 
in each of which churches he had endeavored to make an 
appointment for preaching, but found no hearers, or next to 
none, he laments pathetically the low state of piety preva- 
lent among them. At the latter place, however, he met with 
an old disciple. Father Stephen Hancock, eighty years of age, 
mourning over the low state of Zion. Yqtj sound in doctrine, 
a great admirer of salvation by grace. He was one of the en- 
terprising emigrants who accompanied the celebrated Colonel 
Daniel Boone to- Kentucky in its ^rst settlement, and had long 
maintained a pious deportment. They rode together, in pious 
conversation, to Point Labadie, where the little church seemed 
to prosper. Our brother visited the sick, instructed and prayed 
with inquirers, and preached to them the gospel. Thus he 
went on from place to place, ministering tlte word and ordi- 
nances of the gospel to those rarely enjoying these privileges. 
At the end of two or three weeks he returned home, finding 
sickness and death in his way. A small assembly in St. Louis 
was addressed, containing in all but fifteen females, of whom 
it proved that thirteen were widows. His wife and two chil- 
dren were soon prostrated by bilious fever, and for some days 
their lives seemed to hang by a very brittle thread. Deeply 
was his mind exercised in regard to this discipline, and very 
humbly did he lie before the Lord, crying for his mercy ; and 
at length it dawned upon them. His family's health having 
measurably recovered, the 24th of August we find him attend- 
vng the Illinois Association at Wood river. General coldness in 



176 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

religion, with not a little of personal pique and jeralousy toward 
our brother, was here also evinced. He preached, however, at 
the stand, while the business of the body was being transacted 
in the meeting-house. In this latter, his journal records, was 
brought to light much of the real nature of the opposition to 
missions in this country. It evidently arises from some of 
the most selfish and contracted feelings of the human heart. 
Even some real Christians, in a low state of religion, some- 
times evince much bitter prejudice, and such a disposition as 
is entirely repugnant to the gospel. He preached here, but 
without the good effects, apparently, which had lately attended 
his efforts in Indiana under somewhat similar circumstances. 

First of September he again preached, baptized four, and 
administered the Lord's Supper in St. Louis. The sickness 
then prevailing much thinned the meeting. He found diffi- 
culties presenting themselves in the church, which he records 
his conviction that nothing but the special influence of the 
Lord's Spirit can reconcile. From this point he again pro- 
ceeded into the interior of Missouri, and preached in many of 
the places where he had before labored with various indications 
of success. Gratefully he speaks of a Brother Louis Williams, 
a preacher whom he met on this tour, and whose great im- 
provement within two years and the indications of whose use- 
fulness filled him with delight. In various parts of this wide 
field, appearances of a genuine revival gladdened his heart. 
So much so, that again and again he swept over this wide 
circuit, visiting the feeble and young churches, and in some 
instances baptizing into their fellowship recently-converted 
souls. Abounding in labors of this cheering character, his 
mind and heart evidently became more buoyant and cheerful. 
Abounding in the works of the Lord was evidently his delight. 

The church at St. Louis, whose pecuniary and other embar- 
rassments had occasioned him so much solicitude, he was at 
length enabled to snatch from pecuniary disaster. Early in 
November I find the following record in his journals : 

This night (November 4th) we entered into an arrangement with 
the Presbyterian Society about holding and occupying the meeting- 
house in joint concern — they advancing fifteen hundred dollars to 



ST. LOUIS CHURCH — VANDALIA. ITT 

pay the debts and finish off the house, and the Baptist Society to 
have ten years in which to refund the money and resume the ex- 
clusive possession. This plan ultimately failed of execution. 

On Lord's-day evening, the 12th of the same month, he 
preached a funeral sermon for the beloved Jaeoby, in the 
legislative hall at St. Charles, where this good man had died 
a few weeks previously. He had been a main pillar in the 
Baptist church at St. Louis ; and for a long time afterward 
it seemed as though his removal threatened to terminate its 
existence. An appropriate memoir of him was also forwarded 
by Mr. Peck and inserted in the Massachusetts Baptist Maga- 
zine. (See vol. for 1823.) 

His first quarterly report was forwarded about this time to 
the missionary society in Boston by whom he was in part 
sustained. It breathes a cheerful and confiding spirit, and 
earnestly pleads for more laborers to be sent into this wide 
field. 

Near the end of December, we find him visiting Yandalia, 
the seat of government of Illinois. He preached in the 
legislative hall by the desire of the legislature then in ses- 
sion. Here, too, he met with the same Daniel Parker, his 
antagonist at the Wabash Association, and who was here 
as a senator of Illinois, as hostile as ever. A second time 
Mr. Peck preached to a densely-crowded assembly in the 
hall of the legislature in advocacy of Bible societies, to which 
form of evangelical benevolence, as he saw, it was more diffi- 
cult for the anti-mission party to offer objections, than to some 
others where human infirmity is more mingled. To this topic, 
for some time after this, our brother successfully devoted 
much of his attention. 

This same Parker also very considerably changed his track 
from a little after this time. Wearying or discouraged in his 
direct efforts in the anti-mission cause, he broached a new 
form of heresy and schism. His two-seed doctrine has been 
very fully described by Brother Peck at a later period of their 
history. 



178 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

Report of labors — Loss of Diary and otlier valuables, etc. 

In the month of September, Mr. Peck made a tour through 
Madison, Greene, and Morgan counties. 111., for preaching 
the gospel ; which excursion he speaks of as having been 
very satisfactory to himself, and he hoped of advantage to 
the interests of Zion. He preached one night in Edwards- 
ville, and the next in Carrolton, where the sermon from 
Heb. xi. 25 was blessed to the fuller awakening and conversion 
of one individual, Thomas Garlin, subsequently Governor of 
the State of Illinois. The two following months ^.Iso found 
him frequently revisiting these scenes, where there were dis- 
tinct evidences of the Spirit's presence and power. We give 
from his journal a single day's experience in each of these 
months, indicating the prevalent spirit which now possessed 
his mind. 

Lord's-day, 28th September. "Wet weather, yet a tolerably large 
assembly collected at Carrolton, to whom I preached from Heb. iii. 2 : 
" Lord, revive thy work." My whole object now is to promote 
a revival, if possible. For this end I exhort professors in the plain- 
est language to arouse from their supineness, and call upon sinners 
to repent. Besides public preaching and addresses, I spend much 
time visiting families, exhorting and counseling individuals. In the 
evening preached at Thomas Carlin's from the parable of the sower. 
The people are attentive and solemn. Mrs. Carlin is under deep 
conviction. (Her husband has already been baptized.) Spent a 
happy time that night in conversation and prayer. The following 
day was spent in visiting the sick, and in conversing and praying 
with families. 

Lord's-day, 5th October. The Sunday-school met at the house 
and recited Scripture lessons. I found four or five of the children 
under serious impressions. I then preached from Philippians i. 21, 
with some humble confidence that God blessed the word. Beligion 



ITINERANCY — LOSS OF VALUABLE PAPERS. 179 

now flourishes in the settlement. Here is distinct evidence of the 
immediate good effect of exertions to promote religion. Many 
of the Baptist preachers in this country, in what little doctrine they 
exhibit, verge towards antinomianism ; or at least while they pro- 
fess to contend for the doctrines of grace, they say very Httle about 
duty and practical religion. They seem not to understand the con- 
nection of means with the end, and are not usually inclined to make 
exertions to promote religion. Hence, the churches do not increase 
except by immigration. Professors live very carelessly, and sinners 
remain quite stupid. It has been more the tone of my preaching 
for some time past to inculcate human obligation and stir up pro- 
fessors to prayer and effort, and to awaken sinners from their 
dreadful slumberings. But my dependence for success is alone on 
God. Without the special influence of the Holy Spirit, nothing 
will be done effectually. 

The following day, in company with several persons, he 
rode to the county-seat, and towards evening the court ad- 
journed (Hon. John Reynolds, judge), and he preached in 
the court-room a spirit-stirring discourse from Rev. iii. 20. 

He just notices in his journal that he was about this time 
strongly urged to settle near Carrolton with the promise of a 
liberal support, and he merely subjoins : '' My chief desire is 
to be in that place where the Lord would have me." How 
different the results both on his domestic happiness and the 
welfare of the cause of Christ at large, had he then planted 
himself down quietly, and given his chief labors to a single 
church and the immediate neighborhood, from the results of 
a very different course to which he actually gave his life I 
There is no wisdom in praising the one of these plans at the 
expense of the other ; for God blesses both ; and every in- 
dividual ought to ascertain for which he is best fitted, and act 
accordingly. It is very certain that if all ministers were to 
wander as widely and concentrate their efforts as little as 
did our esteemed brother, there would be little of stability 
and real permanent progress in our cause. And on the 
contrary, if none gave themselves as he did to the general 
care for the welfare of the churches, the education of the 
ministry, and the supply of vast destitute regions, whore 



180 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

Bome one must care for procuring the requisite ministrations 
of gospel truth, a great hindrance in general progress would 
be the inevitable result. By the stationary policy he would 
probabl}^ have suffered less, and his family would have en- 
joyed much more. But it is doubtful whether to himself at 
least the compensations in various ways brought about by his 
wide range and multifarious labors, were not generally re 
munerative, so that bis gain, intellectual and moral, was as 
great as his loss. The suggestion of this comparison almost 
forces itself on one's mind in connection with this overture 
from the good people in Carrolton and vicinity to monopolize 
such a man. It was not the will of Providence that he should 
then and there sit down to luxuriate in the rich spiritual en- 
joyments, than which God has given no greater, growing out 
of penning and feeding a spiritual fold, on which the dews and 
sunshine of fructifying grace are abundantly falling. 

The very next day after the events narrated in the above 
extracts from his journal, he started early in the morning, in- 
tending to reach Carrolton to meet an appointment, but his 
horse, from fright or viciousness, broke away from him while 
crossing the barrens, and for days, if not weeks, his search for 
him was fruitless. Even when the horse was ultimately re- 
covered, his loss in saddle, bridle, overcoat, and the valuable 
contents of his saddle-bags, was a severe one, which it was 
not easy to repair. Specially some valuable papers and 
journals he was never able to make good again. But how 
characteristic it was of the man that when he had done the 
utmost in his power, that day and the next, to recover the 
fugitive, in vain, he accidentally fell in company with some 
f-mall boys gathering nuts ; and he entered with such zest 
into the very spirit of their juvenile enjoyments, as planted 
him deep in their affections and sympathies ever afterward. 
One who was intimately acquainted with some of them has 
thus written of the incident since the death of this venerated 
man : 

In the early years of his missionating in Illinois, he lost his horse, 
with clothes, valuable papers, and journals. He was passing through 



RECOLLECTIONS BY MR. LEMAN. 181 

a comparatively unsettled portion of the conntry, and had occasion 
to dismount, when his horse took very sudden fright at himself or 
at some other object, and ran very rapidly away through the bushes 
and woods out of reach and out of sight directly. He followed in 
pursuit all that afternoon, and at night came to a log-cabin upon 
the spot where the town of Manchester now is, in Morgan county. 
He was there made welcome and entertained for the night. The 
friend in whose cabin he took refuge was afterwards Hon. Judge 
Marks, of uncommon powers of discernment, who became much 
interested in his guest from the first, and regarded him with life- 
lasting affection. In the morning the horse-hunt was renewed with 
all the help which could be mustered, but it was unsuccessful. 
Then as jovially as though this had been the very object of his 
visit, he joined the boys in picking up some fine large nuts, as they 
returned ; and in the evening he was found seated flat on the 
broad hearth-stones of the cabin, as one with the boys, cracking 
and eating nuts, and entertaining the wondering family with lively 
anecdotes one after another, of which he seemed to them to have 
a marvelous supply. I have this story from the Judge's own 
mouth and from the sons also. This kind of buoyancy of spirit 
and versatility of powers gave him immense influence among the 
people wherever his lot was cast. 

The same individual to whom I am indebted for the record 
of the above incident (Benjamin F. Lemen, Esq., a lawyer of 
Salem, HI.) gives also the following incidents, illustrative 
of this period of Mr. Peck's life and labors : 

I well remember the night when I first heard him preach, and 
just where he stood in my father's dwelling (there were no meeting- 
houses then). His missionary life was at that time all before him. 
Fresh from the exalting society of Dr. Staughton, full of zeal and 
high with hope, he rose with a smiling countenance, and opening 
the blessed book, he cast his eyes over the congregation and said : 
" I am going to preach to the young people, and if there is any- 
body who doesn't care about the subject, or is too old and sleepy 
to hear — why it will make no difierence to me, I shall preach just 
the same." This remark was so pecuhar and striking as to arrest 
every one's attention at once. His subject was ihe crucifixion. 
With affecting simplicity and solemnity he described the cross, and 
portrayed the darkness and all the horrors of the scene of the Cal- 
vary tragedy. He dwelt upon the incalculable value of the soul 
of man, as evinced by the infinite cost of our salvation. 
'16 



182 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

He was then young. His full, smiling, open visage, his clear, 
musical voice and soul-stirring earnestness made his discourses 
produce a powerful effect upon all ; and this first one, as well as 
several others about that time, by many of us can never be forgotten. 

When he first came to Illinois, he was opposed and bitterly per- 
secuted in some of his missionary efforts and other undertakings. 
But his every-day walk, and general gentlemanly deportment, con- 
verted many of the crusty old Baptists, who had tried at first to 
oppose him, and some of them became his warmest friends. The 
first show of friendship from one of them was on the occasion of 
the marriage of one of the family, when Brother Peck was chosen 
as the master of ceremonies. A frank confession was made, and 
fifty dollars were tendered him, as some offset to past opposition. 
We all know that for a long series of years his house at Rock Spring 
was a church and a missionary station — the place of constant resort 
for great and learned men, and specially for ministers of all de- 
nominations on first coming into the country. He was affable and 
friendly to all, and a remarkably kind neighbor to every new-comer 
that removed into his vicinity. He was a little eccentric in some 
of his manners, quite comely in his appearance, and carefully neat 
in his apparel ; but not ostentatious in either the one or the other. 

Another iHustrative anecdote from the same authentic source, 
though belonging to a little later period, may rightly enough 
be introduced here, as it was doubtless characteristic of the 
man on various similar occasions : 

I once saw him, about the time of the founding of the Rock 
Spring Seminary, in a large company of opposers, who at a big 
meeting took the opportunity to array themselves in company and 
oppose him jointly, to show him his infatuation I At that period, 
he was a great smoker ; and while they were talking, he lighted his 
pipe, and got up the smoke ! Then when they had about exhausted 
their stores of opposition, he straitened himself up before them, 
and laid out his arguments in order to them, as with quickened 
puffs he sent forth the smoke, and with deliberateness and energy 
he set forth his whole plan and object, and then awakened their 
philanthropy and silenced all their cavil by bold and earnest prophe- 
sying what would come of it. Thus, on all such occasions, doubts 
were dissipated and opposition silenced, and so the good work went 
on and triumphed. 



OPPOSITION TO mSSIONAKIES. 183 



CHAPTER XY. 

Bible Societies in Illinois — Domestic Missions — Green, the Mur- 
derer — First Sunday-school Societies in the West. 

The closing months of the year 1823, with the beginning 
of the following year, were filled up actively and usefully in 
the various preaching tours which Mr. Peck took, both in 
Illinois and Missouri. In the former State, particularly, he 
just now witnessed an increased and, as he feared, an implac- 
able opposition, on the part of some of the ministers, 
especially, to all missionary endeavors, which much grieved 
and perplexed him. We give a few extracts from his journal, 
indicating his experiences, both merciful and disquieting : 

Friday, October 31st. This is my birthday : thirty-four years of 
my life are fled. It deserves remark that every year seems to fly 
away more rapidly as I advance. The last year of my life has been 
free from domestic affliction. Praise the Lord for his goodness. 

November 1st. Eode to St. Louis, and at night attended church- 
meeting with the blacks. Each one conversed on the religious 
state of their minds, and I gave them advice. 

Lol-d's-day, 2nd. Yery cold weather. In the morning I preached 
from the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Solemn attention. Some 
aff'ected. Afternoon, preached again, from "Behold the Lamb of 
God," etc. In the evening I addressed the blacks from the Lord's 
prayer with much feeling and good effect. My mind is much led 
out to God, and I feel resolved to be more circumspect, and more 
engaged in private devotion. Oh, for grace and strength ! 

I have lately learned, much to my disappointment, that the 
new association up the Illinois river [the Sangamon, probably] 
has made a rule to debar missionaries from a seat. Several of the 
friends of missions were prevented by sickness from attending at 
its formation, hence this untoward result. Oh, tell it not in Gath. 
There is a regular conspiracy formed in the Illinois, to put down 
missionaries. The root of all this opposition is from the preachers. 
They fear losing their influence, which must be small indeed. 



184 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

After writing the above, I searched for and read my " Secret 
Diary" of 1815 and 1816, in which I solemnly pledged myself in 
covenant with God to submit to all the trials of a missionary life ; 
and particularly to have my motives impeached and my name cast 
out as evil. It is my sincere desire not to harbor a particle of ill 
will toward those who oppose and persecute me ; but to cherish 
great desires for their salvation. To the grace of God be all the 
praise, that I have not felt much irritation of mind at what has 
taken place, and what my enemies are disposed to do. I grieve, 
however, to think of the injury they are inflicting on the cause of 
the dear Kedeemer. 

November bth. My mind this evening has been much occupied 
on the subject of making some more efficient exertions to promote 
the Bible Society, by ascertaining, in the first place, the exact 
state of destitution in this county. While reading the Seventh 
Annual Keport of the American Bible Society, my mind has been 
all aglow with desire for the full accotnplishment of the noble work 
aimed at. 

This is the first intimation we have found, in a careful 
examination of his journals and letters, of special interest in 
this subject, which afterwards occupied so much of his time 
and labors. A two-fold motive might very appropriately 
lead him at just this crisis to entertain with favor some effort 
of this kind. In the first place, there was palpable evidence 
of much need of Bibles and Testaments in families and 
schools ; and then again he could readily see that it would be 
more difficult for the opponents of all those evangelizing 
efforts with which his mission wap identified, to oppose the 
diffusion of God's word, than any other form of evangeliza- 
tion. Hence the wisdom of beginning on this impregnable 
ground, and exercising the intelligence and the benevolence 
of the churches on this branch of evangelical effort, that by 
exercise it might be strengthened and expanded, and thus be 
less exposed to be carried away by such anti-mission preju- 
dices as were now artfully excited" among the ignorant and 
the selfish. 

Twenty days later the following occurs in his journal : 



FORMATION OP BIBLE SOCIETIES. 185 

For some time I have had many thoughts about undertaking an 
agency to form Bible societies, and thus endeavor to promote the 
gospel in this country, by a more general circulation of the 
Scriptures. My greatest desire is to pursue that course which will 
most speedily and effectually pave the way to more systematic and 
enlarged efforts to promote the kingdom of a dear Redeemer. 

The middle of the following month, on occasion of forming 
the Greene County Auxiliary Bible Society in Illinois, and the 
second at Edwardsville for Madison county, he says, " I have 
no doubt but this will be a death-blow to opposition to 
missionaries in this quarter." 

We 'have been the more careful to fortify this view from 
his own recorded statements and convictions at the time ; be- 
cause it fully redeems the policy he was pursuing from any 
thing like fickleness. He was a missionary with his whole 
heart, but when he thought the very cause of missions could* 
for the time be better promoted by his turning to the work 
of establishing Bible societies, he could not hesitate to 
become an agent for this object. 

Soon after his first successful demonstration in this work — . 
distributing the Scriptures, and awakening interest in behalf 
of the object, getting individuals of chief standing and in- 
fluence to pledge him their aid, and preaching frequently on 
this theme, and forming two county societies and taking 
measures for a third — he accepted an agency from the Ameri- 
can Bible Society to further prosecute this important work. 
The records of this memorable^ year may be appropriately 
closed with his report to the Massachusetts Baptist Mission- 
ary Society, setting forth in a summary manner his labors, 
and the plan on which they were prosecuted. 

Rock Spring, St. Clair County, III. 
December Zlst, 1823. 
Rev. and Dear Sir : — In pursuing my labors in the missionary 
service, it has been an important object with me to enlist as 
many laborers in the vineyard as circumstances would admit. To 
effect this I have ranged over a much wider field, and kept my eye 
upon a greater number of objects than would have been useful had 



186 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

I aimed merely for the immediate success of my own labors. It. 
affords me satisfaction to state that the advantage of this course 
is now apparent. A part of my former field in Missouri, and 
particularly the church in Bon-homme, is now partially supplied 
by the labors of Brother Holmes, whom I formerly mentioned as 
a student. By another arrangement, partly efifected through my 
instrumentality, a valuable brother by the name of Lewis Williams 
is enabled to devote much of his time in Franklin county, and the 
adjacent settlements. Latterly I have taken some steps to enable 
a venerable father in the gospel by the name of Sweet to travel 
some portion of his time in the upper counties of Illinois, and I 
hope to aid in providing means whereby a Brother Crane, who 
is soon to be ordained at Oarrolton, will be liberated so as to 
perform some itinerant service. Two or three other preachers 
have been aided in profitable studies through the medium of 
correspondence. Still a majority of those called preachers of the 
Illinois Association may be regarded as opposed to missionaries, 
missions, and every active systematic measure to promote the 
gospel amongst the destitute. 

Having long known that multitudes of families in this country 
are destitute of the Scriptures, and having deeply felt the import- 
ance of active measures for a wider circulation of the Bible, I pro- 
vided myself from the Missouri Bible Society with a quantity of 
Bibles, Testaments, annual reports, and monthly extracts of the 
American Bible Society, together with a large assortment of 
missionary pamphlets, tracts, etc., and started for the upper 
counties in this State on the 8th inst. My chief object was to 
convey intelligence of the successful efforts now making to pro- 
mote religion amongst men. At Edwardsville I called on several 
gentlemen of my acquaintance, made known my object, readily 
engaged their co-operation, and published a meeting for Christmas 
day to form a Bible society. Here I found that a few Bibles here- 
tofore deposited by the Missouri Bible Society had served to dis- 
close the wants of the public, and create a thirst for more copies. 
Leaving ten copies of the Testament on deposit, and distributing 
two annual reports, and a quantity of tracts, I departed for Carrol 
ton, where I arrived on the 12th, and the next day attended the 
meeting of the church, and brought about an appointment for the 
ordination of Brother Crane, which is to take place in February. 
I immediately wrote to influential men in different sections of the 
county, and gave out an appointment to form a Bible society the 
next night. Accordingly a respectable and crowded audience met 



REPORT OF HIS LABORS. 18T 

in the court-house, to whom I preached from Isaiah hi. 10, and 
immediately following was organized " The,Auxiliary Bible Society 
of Green County." The officers were duly chosen. A number of 
Bibles and Testaments were deposited in the hands of the mana- 
gers, besides selUng a number to individuals, and distributing a 
large number of missionary pamphlets and tracts. Pursuing my 
route, I visited Morgan county, when I made arrangements to form 
a Bible society in February. The Sunday-school on Indian creek 
still progresses, and promises much usefulness. I preached to the 
children as on former occasions, who assembled for the purpose. 

Returning down the country, and explaining the nature and design 
of Bible societies and other benevolent institutions of the present 
age wherever I preached, and especially in Apple creek settlement, 
where I spent the Sabbath and addressed an unusually large con- 
gregation. On the 22d instant I met the managers of the Bible 
society of Green county, and suggested several useful measures to 
be pursued in their incipient efforts. On the night of the 24th I 
plead the Bible cause before a respectable assembly in Alton, and, 
the next day (25th) attended the proposed meeting in Edwardsville. 
After a discourse on the subject, the Auxiliary Bible Society of 
Madison County was formed under favorable auspices and the Board 
of Directors chosen. At evening I addressed the public again on 
the same subject, and deposited with the managers a few Bibles and 
Testaments I had remaining. By a little seasonable and prudent 
effort the Testament may become a class-book in most of the schools 
in this country. I succeeded in introducing it into five schools on 
my route. 

The experiment I have made has fully answered my most san- 
guine expectations of the important advantages the cause would 
derive in Bible societies, and the distribution of mission pamphlets, 
magazines and tracts. , A most important service might be rendered 
to the cause, if the friends in Boston could supply me with an ad- 
ditional quantity of the back numbers of the magazine, missionary 
reports, old sermons, tracts, and every thing of the like description 
for gratuitous distribution. These should be packed in a box marked 
with my name, the freight paid to New Orleans, consigned to some 
merchant there, and directed to the charge of A. Skinner, St. Louis. 
I have found the most beneficial effects result from the distribution 
of a few magazines or tracts after preaching ; and as the people in 
all the settlements seldom hear preaching but once in the month, 
these silent monitors serve to keep alive impressions and feehngs 
till the return of the preacher. 



188 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Next week I expect to visit Missouri, and perform the circuit of 
the Missouri Association to carry into effect the plan for itinerant 
preaching suggested in the last minutes. 

With sincerity of soul I can say there is no pursuit that affords 
such exquisite satisfaction as activity and success in measures to 
promote the gospel. I might dwell upon the difficulties attendant 
on an itinerating life — as absence from home, exposure to sick- 
ness, storms, cold, mud, swimming rivers, and not unfrequently 
rough fare — but these are trifles not worthy of one moment's anx- 
ious concern. To live and labor for Him who died for the redemp- 
tion of man is the highest favor which we need seek after in this 
transitory life. 

May the God of all grace still prosper the efforts of the society, 
is the prayer of your unworthy missionary, 

J. M. Peck. 

Eev. Daniel Sharp. 

P.S. — I understand there is a paper published by some of the 
Baptist brethren in Boston called the Christian Watchman. I wish 
to receive it, commencing January 1st, and hope the Treasurer of 
the missionary society will pay the subscription and charge the 
same to me. Direct the numbers to Cherry Grove P.O., St. Clair 
county, 111. Yours, etc., 

J. M. Peck. 

It was about this time made the painful duty of Mr. Peck 
to officiate, under very affecting circumstances, at the execu- 
tion of a murderer. He happened to be in Alton, HI., the 
very day of the homicide, December 4th, 1823, and on noticing 
the excitement produced, he subjoins the following remarks in 
his journal : " The state of morals is truly deplorable in 
this State ; and this does not so much arise from the general 
depravity of Ishe inhabitants, as from the dreadful neglect (or 
connivance, as may be feared) of the judiciary, leading to a 
non-execution of the laws against crimes. No less than six 
murders, or homicides in affrays, have been perpetrated iu 
nine months, and as yet not one is convicted." 

In this instance, however, the poor culprit was convicted 
the 14th of the following month, and ordered to be executed 
the 12th of the next month. He at once applied to Mr. Peck 



BAPTISM OP A PENITENT MURDERER. 18^ 

to attend him at the execution ; and before our brother could 
visit him in his cell, he had professed to be converted, and the 
rumor was that he desired baptism. To this Mr. Peck felt the 
strongest opposition, supposing it would possibly tend to the 
delusion of the wretched felon, and moreover might lessen the 
salutary horror to be produced by the just execution of the 
laws. He was also full of suspicion of the murderer's sin- 
cerity, and in this unfavorable state of mind had his first 
interview with Green in his dungeon. Much time and very 
thorough examination was devoted to his case, occupying the 
4th and 5th of February. The result was that a very thor- 
ough conviction of the genuineness of his conversion was 
wrought in the mind of Mr. Peck, and he found his former 
distrust and unbelief entirely removed. The penitence and 
humility of the culprit were deep and thorough. His con- 
viction commenced immediately after he committed the atro- 
cious deed. The following notice of some of the circum- 
stances of his interviews with the murderer will be interesting : 

Thursday, fith. Spent most of the day with Green. Found that 
the close talk that I had with him yesterday produced much effect 
upon his mind. He had spent the whole night in prayer and self- 
examination. He was now composed, firm in his hope, deeply 
penitent, and the fear of death was removed. The Wood river 
church, with their pastor, the venerable Father Jones, attended for 
the purpose of public worship with the culprit in the prison ; and 
Mr. Peck preached from Luke xxiii. 39-43 — the case of the penitent 
thief. Green then related his experience, which deeply affected 
every one in the house. His replies to very close, heart-searching 
questions put to him were pertinent and satisfactory, and he was 
received as a candidate for baptism. He was then conducted to the 
water, about two hundred yards from the prison, having a small 
chain attached to his leg, and a rope around his body and arms 
which the sheriff held. The day was cold, and a hole was cut in 
the ice for the administration of the ordinance. His baptism ex- 
cited much solemnity and deep feeling amongst the people. To 
baptize a murderer, under sentence of death, and who must inev- 
itably be executed in one week, was a novel thing, and what I should 
least thought of doing once ; but in this case I became satisfied that 
it was my duty, and would not shrink from it. 



190 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

The next two days were spent chiefly in the jail with Green. 
His Christian character became more fully developed, and 
Mr. Peck could not but regard him as a monument of grace. 
By the culprit's desire Mr. Peck wrote a brief account of his 
life, taken down from his own lips, and carefully corrected by 
himself. 

Lord's-day, Sth February. The morning was spent with Green. 
He is perfectly composed — has no fear of death. His hope seems 
a solid and firm one, founded on the promises of the gospel. He 
evinces no ecstacies, no enthusiastic passions. The narrative of 
his life was read over to him after final revision, which he certified 
and signed before the three witnesses present for this purpose. 

Mr. Peck then left him for three days, and on returning to 
him the evening before his execution, he found that Green 
had experienced some trials and temptations, fearing that the 
Lord w^ould not afford him comfort and support in the trying 
hour. Still his hope remained unshaken in Christ. At night 
a prayer-meeting was held in the jail. The poor malefactor 
prayed, confessed, and exhorted the people, and it was an 
affecting time. Some present were convicted of sin, and 
Mr. Peck left him at a late hour, perfectly composed and 
happy in the prospect of glory. He records in his journal 
his heartfelt gratitude for the consolations which religion 
affords. 

Thursday, February I2th. The fatal day for Green has arrived. 
I visited him early in the morning, read the Scriptures and prayed 
with him, then left him alone for private devotion. At eleven 
o'clock, he was dressed for the gibbet in a white shroud trimmed 
with black, with a cap on his head. The guard forming a hollow 
square around him, he walked on with a firm and steady step, ac- 
companied by the sheriff and chaplain. He surveyed the imple- 
ments of death, and ascended the scaffold and seated himself on the 
drop with composure^ Two thousand spectators in deep and rev- 
erent silence were gathered around; two or three prayers were 
offered, and as many appropriate hymns sung. I then preached 
the sermon from Ecclesiastes ix. 12 : *As the fishes that are taken 
in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are 
the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly 



EXECUTION OP GREEN — SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 191 

upon them." I also read his narrative and experience, which pro- 
duced a solemn effect. A great many were in tears. The ministers 
and the jailer and family ascended the scaffold, shook hands with 
him, and bade him farewell. The sheriff adjusted the rope and took 
leave of him. As he did so, Green exhorted him and then the 
people in a few words, most solemnly and feelingly. He confessed 
the justice of his sentence, and prayed that he might be a salutary 
warning to others. I then offered a final prayer and read the hymn 
I had composed for the occasion. While the last line was sung, 

" I make the signal for my flight," 

the drop fell, and the immortal spirit took its flight. 

The occasion, the prayers, the eloquent addresses, and perhaps 
more than all, the behavior of the sufferer, impressed the behold- 
ers with solemn awe. Never before did I witness any thing like 
this. Never did I see such proof of the power and support of 
Divine grace in the awful hour of dissolution. It appeared con- 
vincing to every one that his repentance w'as real. The effect on 
the bystanders was solemnity, a consciousness of religion, a deep 
sense of the heinous crime of murder, and the nature of justice as 
being but a modification of goodness. 

The following Lord's-day Mr. Peck presided at the council, 
and aided in the ordination of Mr. Crane, a licentiate in the 
Carrolton church. He then the following evening repeated 
the execution-sermon, and read part of Green's experience 
and narrative to a crowded congregation in the court-house at 
Carrolton. Returning to Edwardsville to put the sermon and 
narrative to press, he was gratified in finding that some had 
already been awakened and converted by means of them ; and 
the same thing is once or twice noticed subsequently in his 
journal. The pamphlet containing both sermon and narrative 
was widely circulated at the time, but the writer has not been 
able to find a copy. 

The following month he records having attended by invita- 
tion the session of the Presbytery at St. Louis, where one 
candidate was examined for licensure and another for ordina- 
tion. He was much edified and instructed during the session. 
The harmony which prevailed, and the spirit of real religion 
among the members were most cheering. Near the end of 



192 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

the month he mentions reading the sermon on the moral dig- 
nity of the missionary enterprise by Dr. Wayland. How 
widely the aims of its author were now being realized at home 
and abroad I 

In April, while attending the first anniversary of the Greene 
County Bible Society, he availed himself of a favorable oppor- 
tunity to preach at the county-seat on the importance of 
Sunday-schools, and with the aid of a few zealous spirits a 
Sunday-school society for the county was also formed. The 
following notice of this movement occurs in his journal, and 
is noteworthy as one of the first records of what afterwards 
engrossed much of his time and energies ; 

It is my intention to form a number of county societies, and then 
concentrate their efforts in a general union of Sabbath-schools. 
These with the Bible institutions may be employed to exert a most 
powerful influence through this "Western country, and will silently 
undermine the prejudices against missions more than any thing 
else. By the agency appointment which I have lately received, I 
shall be enabled (if health and success are allowed) to do more for 
the advancement of religion than I ever anticipated." 

This, be it remembered, was more than a year before the 
formation of the American Sunday-school Union in Philadel- 
phia. Thus early was God opening before him paths of use- 
fulness and honor, which have made his name so familiar and 
distinguished. On this very occasion, the court adjourned to 
listen to a sermon from him before the Bible society and for 
the transaction of its annual business. 

The whole of April and May were spent by Mr. Peck, 
chiefly in Southern and Central Illinois, the Military Tract, 
and the adjacent parts of Missouri, in indefatigable efforts to 
awaken and increase an interest in behalf of Sunday-schools 
and Bible societies. Frequent mention is found of the apathy, 
the misconception and prejudices he had to encounter in his 
advocacy of these good objects, and affecting testimonies of 
the destitution which he found so prevalent. On the whole 
his success was encouraging. 



AFFECTING INSTANCE OF DESTITUTION. 193 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Destitution ascertained — Continued Labors — Opposition to Slavery. 

Mr. Peck's diary number twenty is contained in a square 
volume of one hundred and fifty pages, and covers a period 
of little more than ten months, viz., from 28th of May, 1824, 
to 5th of March, 1825. On many accounts this was an event- 
ful and useful period of his life, though presenting few salient 
points of striking interest. He was going on and on with 
the work described in the last chapter, traversing the old 
rounds in similar labors to those above recorded, and gradu- 
ally extending the field of his explorations and labors. While 
sedulously careful to preach the common salvation in all the 
little and destitute churches which he could reach, he devoted 
on an average one Sabbath a month to the Baptist interest in 
St. Louis, and also made extensive tours through Central and 
Southern Illinois, and over almost the entire State of Mis- 
souri lying south of the Missouri river, and occasionally north 
of it. These explorations aimed at ascertaining as fully as 
possible the want of preaching, of Bibles, and of Sabbath- 
schools, in the several settlements, and the facilities which 
might be made available for supplying these wants. Some 
instances of destitution which fell under his personal observa- 
tion were most affecting. Here is one instance : 

19^7i June,lS24:. On my route, twelve miles from Brownsville, I 
called at the house of a Mr. Butcher to get directions in my journey. 
The woman I found to be a Baptist, who had lived fourteen years, 
eight of which were in this wilderness, without any religious privi- 
leges. In this time she had heard but four sermons, two from 
one of her own society, and he a man not in good standing. When 
I told her my profession, she was too much affected with weeping 
to speak for some time. She then related her trials and distresses 
of soul for her forlorn state. She could not read except by slowly 
It 



194 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

spelling out the words in her Testament and hymn-book, and this 
was all the religious consolation she enjoyed. Her children were 
growing up in ignorance, and this added greatly to her sorrows. 
She would give all she possessed, yea, all the world if she had it, to 
be reinstated in the same privileges she had once enjoyed. It 
may be asked : " Why did she not return to Carolina, whence she 
had emigrated, or to some more favored settlement ?" She was the 
wife of a husband who had chosen his residence here for the advan- 
tages of stock-raising ; had improved a large plantation, and chose 
to remain. She was the mother of a large family of children, and 
leaving them and her husband was impossible. Nor is this case a 
singular one. But could I portray the real feelings, and the simple 
but energetic cry of this wanderer from Christ's fold ; could I lay 
all her woes and all her secret sighs before an opposer of missions ; 
I would say to him : " Here is an instance of the fruit of your 
criminal opposition. You would tear from the heart of this forlorn 
lamb of Christ all the consolation she ever enjoyed in these years 
of wearisome pilgrimage, in the visit, prayers, and instructions of 
a missionary. You would tear from her the last hope of her de- 
clining age, the hope of benefit to her children from the pious 
labors of some herald of the Cross, who in his excursions might 
alight at her cottage, bearing the message of redeeming love." 
After instruction, and commending her to God, I took my leave of 
herself and family. 

At Kaskaskia he formed a female auxiliary Bible society 
of some twenty members under circumstances of interest and 
hopefulness, a pious Quakeress being made President, with 
whom he formed a pleasant acquaintance. In the end of 
June he notices seeing in the newspapers an account of the 
formation of the American Sunday-school Union, Philadelphia, 
and immediately entered into correspondence with it, giving 
the facts he had gathered in the vast region over which he 
was traveling. He notices also the preparation of a sermon 
in favor of the colonization Society which he preached the 
4th of July. Thus early was his heart opening to every good 
enterprise for the bond and the free. During this year also 
there are incidental notices in his journal of the great question, 
then being covertly agitated in Southern Illinois especially, in 
regard to calling a convention of the State for remodeling the 



SLAVERY IN ILLINOIS DEFEATED. 195 

constitution so as to admit of slavery. There can be no doubt 
that a deep-laid plan was formed for securing the consumma- 
tion of this scheme. The legislature the preceding winter 
had opened the way for the calling of such a convention, 
though the real object .of it was skilfully veiled. Governor 
Coles, a Yirginian, who had emigrated to this free territory, 
relying on the inviolability of the ordinance of '87, and had 
brought with him the patrimony of slaves from his father's 
estate which he inherited, on purpose to settle them eligibly 
in freedom, was now fortunately in the executive chair, and 
to his commanding and consistent influence it was no doubt 
principally owing, that this stealthy movement of the advo- 
cates of hereditary bondage was thoroughly circumvented. 
There can be no doubt that Mr. Peck, who shared the Gov- 
ernor's intimate acquaintance and confidence, shared with him 
also the sentiments above expressed, and in a quiet, unob- 
trusive manner aided, so far as he properly could, in bringing 
about this result. But it is not true that he traversed the 
State, under cover of his commission as a missionary and 
a Bible agent, but really as an emissary opposed to the pro- 
posed convention. He seems on the contrary to have pru- 
dently guarded his whole deportment, so as not to be obnox- 
ious to censure in this respect. However deeply he may have 
felt as a citizen, there is no evidence that he made himself a 
partisan. Against ministers of the gospel doing this he al- 
ways raised his voice and wielded his pen. And though, on 
the defeat of the above measure, some of its too warm advo- 
cates were inclined to censure him, and he notices in a few 
instances the unkindness and injustice of their treatment, yet 
in the end all the more considerate and trustworthy became 
convinced of the erroneousness of their suspicions, and re- 
stored to him the full measure of their confidence. This 
result was no doubt all the earlier secured, because, when the 
hallucination of the moment had passed away, all parties 
seem to have rested satisfied of the fact that the best result 
had been secured. A quarter of a century later, when Mr. 
Peck edited the second edition of the "Annals of the West," 



196 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

it is correctly stated as the summing-up of this matter : "Id 
six months after the question [of calling a convention] was 
settled, a politician who was in favor of the introduction of 
slavery into the State was a rarity." 

This is the verdict of an impartiaj and somewhat remote 
review of these transactions. But at the time, and when so 
many causes were conspiring to unite all elements of opposi- 
tion against our brother, as the staunch advocate of whatever 
was enlightened, benevolent, and patriotic, it was a compara- 
tively easy thing. to load him with obloquy for his sentiments 
on this subject. Public attacks of a scurrilous and perfectly 
baseless character were sometimes sent forth against him in 
the newspapers. To some of these he replied in a temperate 
but decided and manly denial of the allegations, and a fearless 
demand for any proof to sustain the assault. He remarks in 
his diary that to some extent these very attacks, by rendering 
him more famous, drew towards him more of the attention of 
the public, and gave him ampler opportunity to advocate with 
success the great objects to which his heart and life were de- 
voted — missions, the diffusion of the Bible, and the vigorous 
support of Sunday-schools. In a very few instances, however, 
he had occasion to lament the alienation of some of his former 
friends on this account. He mourned over their misconcep- 
tions, and, in a kind and fraternal manner, used the best means 
in his power to disabuse their minds of the prejudices they 
had entertained. So far as this was merely personal, ho 
seems to have been willing to bear this obloquy and aliena- 
tion ; but where, as in many cases, it affected injuriously the 
cause of his Divine Master, dearer to him than life, he was 
deeply grieved with the spirit and the opposition which it 
stirred up against him. 

His growth in grace and in knowledge, as a Christian 
minister, appears to have fully kept pace with the celebrity 
which unsought was widely extending his influence. At this 
period he certainly watched over his heart, his spirit, his 
entire deportment with scrupulous fidelity. He thus ex- 



SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS — STUDY OP THE BIBLE. 19t 

presses himself on hearing of the death of a minister who 
had injured him : 

Though for three years past he has tried to injure me, I have freely- 
forgiven him ; and I feel thankful that I treated him with the respect 
due to his age, at the last Missouri Association. Let all that has 
been unpleasant be buried in the dust and forgotten. 

In case of another professed minister, with whom he and 
his associate, Rev. Mr. Welch, had much diflBculty years 
before, and who had been held up by decisions of churches 
and associations against the full proofs they had adduced of 
his unworthiness, when now at length he was demonstrating 
beyond all question his flagitious character, the journal says, 
evidently coming from the writer's heart, " Oh, that Divine 
mercy might reclaim him !" On detecting in his own mind 
the frequent and painful recurrence of doubts on some of the 
fundamental principles of spiritual religion, he thus remarks 
as to what he feared was his culpability in the cause : 

My neglect of secret devotion, and fiiilure to cultivate the humility 
of soul and close walk with God, which ought to be maintained, under 
all circumstances, is probably the cause of these doubts. Amidst 
a multiplicity of business, which though not chiefly of a worldly 
character, yet proves a temptation for relaxation in more spiritual 
and heavenly engagements, I find myself prone to depart from the 
hving God. In too many instances my pulpit services are destitute 
of the life of religion. To this I must add the levity of my con- 
versation. There is a constitutional tendency in me to hilarity of 
spirits which is frequently indulged beyond the bounds of propriety, 
and on reflection induces me to exclaim, " Who shall deliver me 
from this dead body ?" 

. In the same spirit, when he had been obliged by public 
duties to spend a few days at the seat of government, and 
mingle very freely with the influential men from different 
parts of the State, he records his estimate of the influence 
of such association : " I find them not good for the soul." 
As a means of intellectual and spiritual improvement, he 



198 MEMOIR OF JUli:i M. PECK. 

records some experiments which he made in systematic study- 
ing of the Divine word, even while traveling. The follow- 
ing notice of such efforts occurs in his diary, and will be read 
with interest : 

Saturday, 9th October, 1824. Started on my way to Columbia. 
For some weeks I have felt a growing attachment to reading the 
word of God critically. I have gone through the Epistle to the 
Romans in the most careful and minute manner, observing every 
expression, and sometimes dwelling for two or three hours upon a 
single chapter. This has vastly increased a thirst for a more inti- 
mate acquaintance with the sacred volume. I can read while riding 
horseback, by the help of sun-glasses which I generally use. My 
method is to implore the unction of the Holy Spirit that I may 
understand the portion I am about to study ; and then commence 
and dwell on each verse, observing the connection till I can catch 
what appears to be the distinct idea of the Writer ; often looking back 
and examining the part I have gone over, and connecting it with 
what follows. If a verse or sentence is not clearat first, I endeavor to 
fix my mind on the passage with the utmost intensity, and in a little 
time I generally find the obscurity vanish, and clear, definite ideas 
present themselves. Passages remaining obscure, on which I can- 
not satisfy myself, 1 mark with a pencil, for examination with the 
best helps I may afterwards find accessible. This method of study- 
ing the sacred oracles is both instructive and comforting. I know 
a httle of what the pious Psalmist means in saying the words of 
God were sweet to his taste, yea sweeter than honey or the honey 
comb. 

In the same connection he laments the indisposition of 
some preachers to study the letter of Divine truth, making 
extravagant claims to being led by the Spirit. 

An old minister named H , famous for allegorizing, thus 

noticed the plagues in Egypt, and the success of her magicians in 
imitating some of the miracles of Moses, but could not produce 
the lice. " These lice," he said, " signified the grace of God in the 
soul. Now," said he, " as you can. feel these little animals," suiting 
the action to the word he here scratched his head, " but cannot 
see them, so you cannot see the grace of God, but you can feel it." 
Such idle, ridiculous and disgusting comparisons are frequently 



PREJUDICE AGAINST BAPTISTS. 199 

made ; and such preachers, by ludicxous and antic gestures, and a 
drawling voice, can often raise a laugh among their hearers. Thus 
rehgion becomes ridiculous, and excites contempt among sensible, 
well-informed men. These too often fly off to deism and atheism, 
imagining all religion to be foll^^. The cause of this may be 
mainly traced to putting ignorant persons into the ministry, and 
encouraging them to preach without study. Lord, deUver Zion 
from such evils I 

How incessantly, in all his journeyings, our brother was 
laying under contribution all his opportunities for learning 
human nature may be seen by the following item of his 
journal ; 

"While journeying in settlements where I am not known, I fre- 
quently call at houses, and in a roundabout way introduce the 
subject of religion, and in this way find out the views which differ- 
ent denominations entertain of each other. They will converse 
more freely and I can get a better insight into their charac- 
ter than if my calling were suspected. To-day I called on a 
Cumberland Presbyterian family to inquire the road, and soon fell 
into conversation with a woman. She represented the Baptists as 
believing that God had foreordained a certain part of mankind to 
be saved, and the rest to be damned ; and that it would do no 
good for us to attempt to do any thing till God did all the 
work. She also said they believed no other society could be saved, 
because they were not baptized. It is astonishing how much 
honest, well-meaning people will mistake each other through preju- 
dice and prepossession. I find there is but little diS'erence in the 
strength and prevalence of their prejudices, however they may 
differ in other respects. The absurdity of all this is the more 
striking when it is seen with what eagerness they will receive 
members from each other's society, and what anxiety is manifested 
for proselyting. 

His Bible and Sunday-school labors especially brought 
him into close contact with all denominations, and taught him 
important lessons of true, wide-reaching charity. Entertained 
as the welcome guest by the good of all denominations, how 
could he fail to leave the good among them all. Speaking 
of a worthy Methodist family who had cordially received 
him, he says : 



200 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

I was received as kindly as- 1 could have been in any Baptist 
family. Experience has taught me that it is wretched policy for 
the different sects in religion to oppose each other. As the late 
excellent Dr. Ward observes, *' There is much trash cleaving to us 
all." Christians can love each other, and provoke to good works 
without sanctioning a particle of error, or relinquishing a particle 
of truth. I have good reason to believe that the liberal policy 
which I have observed for months past has had good effect. 

To which we may safely subjoin, it certainly had a good 
effect on himself, as it always does on every true disciple of 
Christ. It need not render him indifferent to points of im- 
portance held by each family of the Lord's people. That it 
did not in the present instance is demonstrated by the follow- 
ing account which he gives of a camp-meeting of the 
Methodists and Cumberland Presbyterians in Missouri which 
he attended, and of which he furnishes the following account : 

At evening of the last day I heard a young Cumberland Presby- 
terian attempt to preach from 1 Pet. i. 8. He was a young hand 
and made out but poorly. A Mr. Chamberlain, a Methodist, 
gave an exhortation, in which he began by lamenting the want of 
effort on the part of the people, declaring at first that he had no 
faith to exhort ; he reproved the people for sloth and neglect, but 
soon fell into a strain of the most passionate, powerful appeals to the 
hopes and fears of all around him. The Methodists were alternately 
assailed and encouraged, till he wound up by proposing to all who 
ever did pray, or ever would pray, to engage ten minutes by the 
watch as the last alternative. Upon this the members and others 
rushed forward to the stand, and all commenced as if with one 
voice. Soon a black woman and some others commenced shouting. 
Two or three appeared in agony for mercy. The preachers would 
exhort them to have a little more faith, " to struggle a few minutes 
longer, and God, Christ, and heaven are yours !" They would 
constantly make appeals to those engaged to prevent the fervor 
and zeal from expiring. I left them about nine o'clock still en- 
gaged, and I could hear them shouting at a great distance. 

I remark on this subject generally as follows : 

1. Throughout the preaching, the exhortations, and the coia- 
mimion nothing of this kind transpired : hence the people were 
said to be indolent, lazy, and devoid of faith. 



ESTIMATE OF CAMP-MEETINGS. 201 

2. The person who now exhorted evidently intended to produce 
this excitement ; and as the assembly was rather small, he first 
pretended he had no faith to exhort, and that they must depart 
without a solitary conversion. 

3. They all went to work in a way calculated to raise their own 
and others' passions, and labored at it most determinedly. They 
appeared to act as if they felt that all depended on human effort. 
*' Come forward and help the Lord do it," was a common expres- 
sion. 

4. The excitement had to be kept up by the same causes which 
produced it. The moment the preachers stopped, the nerves 
of the people relaxed and their voices fell. 

5. All this excitement and effect, so far as visible, might have 
been produced without the agency of God, and might be and 
seemed to be only the effect of human causes. 

6. While from the fruits occasionally manifested, I have no 
doubt that genuine convictions and saving conversions do some- 
times follow such confused and disorderly meetings, yet it must 
be confessed that most of these cases prove false — worse than 
worthless. 

7. The method of talking to and exhorting the persons apparently 
under conviction is highly improper and injudicious. The whol-e 
object of the preachers and leaders appears to be to get them 
relieved from distress, quite irrespective of the character of the 
relief. Hence, were it not for the apparent necessity for such 
meetings, in a thinly populated country, and the fact that some- 
times God blesses very imperfect means, I would disapprove of 
them wholly. As they are congenial to the habits of the people, 
and may do some good, reaching those not otherwise accessible, 
they may be tolerated, and as far as practicable regulated. 

All sorts of opposition came in his way, and valiantly did 
he encounter it. In one of his tours for organizing Bible 
societies, he says : 

Instead of persuading the 'people to unite in circulating the 
vScriptures, I find it necessary to take higher ground, and support 
the Bible as the word of God — as a scheme of Divine revelation. 
There are people of prominent and active influence who reject the 
gospel of a precious Saviour. I was attacked by two men of this 
sort, in the public house where I put up. 



202 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

This led him to review carefully the ground of early and 
modern skepticism, and to prepare himself thoroughly to 
defend that Holy Word he was laboring to disseminate. 

July 30th, he thus sums up the results of an early, and 
laborious tour as Bible agent : 

In this journey in the Bible cause I have rode five hundred 
miles, preached seventeen regular sermons besides delivering 
several addresses ; have aided in forming eight Bible societies, two 
of which are branches, the others auxiliaries. The Lord has 
been exceedingly gracious to me in all my journeyings, granted 
me ah unusual degree of health, prospered me in my labors much 
beyond any reasonable anticipations, and returned me in safety 
over several dangerous waters where I had to swim my horse. 

Near the close of the following month, as he was prepar- 
ing to set forth on a still longer tour through Missouri, his 
wife became very ill, and for several days despaired of re- 
covery. His mind was greatly exercised with distracting 
emotions in view of this calamity, but at length he found 
grace to commit himself and family entirely into the Lord's 
hand, and wait his holy will. Almost immediately God 
turned the shadow of death into the morning, and she began 
steadily to recover. One week later, he set forth on this 
important enterprise. A month later, he thus describes his 
position and his feelings : 

September 2Sth. I am now at Liberty, Clay county, on the ex- 
treme western side of Missouri, north of the Missouri river. 
Southeast lies the missionary station of Harmony, among the 
Osages, one hundred miles distant. Northwest are the Council 
Bluffs, and before me the interminable wilderness, over which the 
savage Indians roam after the buffalo. Could I but succeed in 
planting the Bible here, it would greatly rejoice my heart, but 
prospects at present are not very favorable. The settlement of 
this remote county in the extremity of the State was begun but 
four years since, and it now contains about two thousand inhabi- 
tants. Baptists, Cumberland Presbyterians, and Methodists, each 
have societies here. The people who have settled this district are 
chiefly from Kentucky and Teimessce, sadly destitute of public 



BIBLE EFFORTS — TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 203 

spirit, and manifest a great degree of apathy towards benevolent 
institutions, even when they are obviously intended for their own 
benefit. More than one hundred of these families are believed to 
be entirely destitute of the Scriptures, yet when I explained — after 
preaching — the design of an auxiliary Bible society, the need and 
the benefits of it, and then urged its formation, no one stepped 
forward and offered to engage in it. In Eay and Clay and Lillard 
counties, little or nothing could be eSected. 

On reaching his home (October 20th), he thus recapitulates 
the labors and successes of the journey ; 

In this tour I have not been as successful in forming Bible socie- 
ties as I had fondly anticipated, but I have done what I could. 
May the blessing of Heaven follow ! I have rode on horseback 
eight hundred and thirty miles, preached twenty-seven times regu- 
lar discourses, formed five branch Bible societies, attended four 
Baptist associations, two Methodist camp-meetings, besides making 
a number of addresses, and preparing the way for other Bible 
societies hereafter. This has occupied forty-five days. 

In November of this year he mentions attending the organ- ^ 
ization of a society, for the suppression of intemperance, in ) 
one of the counties of Central Illinois ; and this is marked in [ 
the margin at a much later date as the first temperance society 
in the State, or possibly he means the first with which he had 
met or co-operated. Thus we find him sowing beside all 
waters, and he lived to verify the blessedness which the Divine 
promise announ(^s. Having sowed bountifully the good seed 
of all good enterprises — moral, religious, intellectual — it was 
his privilege afterwards to reap bountifully. Having gone 
forth, weeping, bearing precious seed, he did return rejoicing, 
bearing the rich sheaves of an abundant harvest. But we 
may not linger longer in our gleanings of this harvest. Very 
appropriately might this chapter be closed by the letter of 
Mr. Peck to the Secretary of the Missionary Society of Mas- 
sachusetts, with which he still held a connection, but our 
limits forbid. 



204 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XYIL 

Revisiting — Circuit-preaching — Perverse Ministers — Infidelity. 

The next ten months were spent in a manner so similar to 
the preceding as scarcely to require a minute detail of his nu- 
merous and multifarious engagements. The same objects aimed 
at, as described in the last chapter, still engrossed his atten- 
tion, and were prosecuted on the whole with cheering success. 
The ordinary amount of discouragement from misconception 
and prejudice among opponents, and from coolness, indiffer- 
ence, and lack of fidelity in his professed coadjutors, cost him 
many a severe disappointment. Yet through it all he bated 
not a particle of heart or hope, but urged his way onward, 
right onward. When for instance he would make his way 
through many impediments of bad roads, swollen creeks, and 
missing bridges, for scores of miles, to meet some Bible so- 
ciety anniversary, and find, on arriving at the appointed place, 
that no arrangements had been made for the meeting, instead 
of abandoning such faulty individuals as these officers and 
managers had proved themselves, he would set about the 
work which they had neglected with imperturbable patience 
and vigor, and when after struggling day and night to repair 
the disaster occasioned solely by their neglect, and when the 
full tide of success had again been secured, and their coldness 
was giving place to general gratulations in view of the cheer- 
ing results, then, and not before, would he kindly but faith- 
fully lead these officers to see the bad effects of their luke- 
warmness, and win from them a hearty pledge of greater 
fidelity and zeal in future. He came very soon to understand 
that no auxiliary, Bible, or Sunday-school society was reliably 
established, until it had been revisited at the end of a year or 
two of its history, to set in order and re-supply the things 
which were wanting, and by continuous exercise on the part 



CIRCUIT-PREACHING — SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 205 

of its officers and managers, they had formed the habit of 
earning success by patient and energetic well-doing. This 
course of reiterated journeying over the same routes where ho 
had passed before gave him much more thorough and com- 
plete knowledge of the country and its wants, and the means 
available for the supply of these wants, than he could have 
otherwise secured. It made him familiar with the men and 
the means which could be called out, and what was most 
indispensable to secure them. So that, in reality, great as 
may have been the immediate benefits from his previous and 
his present exertions by preaching, and by his systematic 
formation of Sunday-schools and Bible-distributing organiza- 
tions, the chief value of these explorations may still be justly 
reckoned as their preparation for more enlarged and efficient 
measures in the future. In this light it is certain that he came 
in the end to regard them. Indeed so little was he satisfied 
with the amount of permanent and reliable success hitherto 
secured, that we find him again and again during this period 
very seriously revolving the question whether he should not 
break away from the multifarious engagements on which, as 
he feared, he was frittering away the best of his years, and 
settling himself down in St. Louis, ministering to a single 
church, regularly teaching some few hours a day for his reli- 
able support, he should not devote himself to conducting a 
weekly journal as the principal means of arousing and wisely 
guiding the Western mind, and heart, and habits, for self- 
improvement. His correspondence and journals show how 
nearly he at one time came to yielding himself up to an in- 
viting offer of this kind. But doubtless it was well for the 
cause "that he did not. It was yet too early to trust to the 
power of the press to set in motion and wisely guide the mass 
of inert mind on which, for religious and moral improvement, 
he had to operate. More of the hard, preliminary work had 
first to be performed, and to that he earnest^ and bravely 
devoted himself. 

The necessity of something like a system of circuit-preaching, 
by the most capable and faithful ministers attainable, seems 
18 



206 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

to have been about this time fully impressed on his mind. 
Returning from one of his usual preaching tours through a 
pretty wide range of counties, churches, and preaching- 
stations, he thus remarks in his journal : 

On this route' I have rode three hundred and two miles. This is 
a circuit suitable for an active missionary in this country to ride 
over in one month, and preach thirty times, besides attending to 
keeping alive Bible societies, Sunday-schools, and looking well to 
the discipline of the churches. 

The immense mischief done by ignorant, imprudent, and 
pretentious preachers, was constantly forcing itself on his 
notice ; and jottings down in his journals like the following 
are of frequent occurrence : 

After much serious reflection I am convinced that much of the 
ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry, which exist among the Baptists 
here, is to be traced to the men who pretend to preach the gospel. 

Again, on the following page, he says : 

The Church here is in serious difficulty, and from all appearances 
there will be a division amongst the Baptists through the State. The 
opposers of missions are determined to invade the inherent rights 
and privileges of their brethren, and it really seems as if they were 
given up to violent measures in order to hasten their own defeat. All 
these difficulties originate from the ignorant and selfish preachers." 

In the meantime the cheering influence of the Sunday- 
schools which he had established, and the willingness of all 
classes (with trifling exceptions) to co-operate in maintaining 
and extending them, very greatly cheered his heart. In May, 
1825, this record is found on his reaching St. Louis, and look- 
ing over the extensive correspondence there received by him 
as Secretary of a Western Sunday-school Union which had 
there been formed : 

From various quarters I learn that the Sunday-school cause 
prospei:s. Schools are forming in different parts, and it is to be 
hoped that great good will be the result. 

Again, in August following, on occasion of his extending 
his tour over the State line into Indiana and there forming 



VISIT TO ROBERT OWEN'S COLONY. 201 

the Knox County Sunday-school Society under auspicioua 
circumstances, he thus remarks : 

If circumstances possibly admitted, I could form a complete 
system of Sunday-schools in Indiana ; and I am almost induced 
at times to forego the objects I have already contemplated, sacrifice 
domestic enjoyment and family interest, and devote myself to such 
a work. My lungs are still oppressed with cold and hoarseness, 
but when I find a number of children and several people assemble 
in the evening for instruction, I cannot hesitate to address them, 
relating Sunday-school anecdotes and other things adapted to in- 
terest them. In every part of the country is a wide field for exer- 
tion. Twenty missionaries might find constant employment in 
Indiana. 

Later in the same month Mr. Peck visited Robert Owen's 
colony at Harmony — of which he furnishes the following 
account : 

I rode a few miles on purpose to see the community lately 
formed by Mr. Owen. The town of Harmony is situated on the 
right bank of the "VVaba&h and was originially founded by a colony 
of Germans under a Mr. Eapp. There are a number of excellent 
buildings, fine gardens, with walks, labyrinths, vineyards, etc., but 
at present much of it Ues waste. The town is crowded with popu- 
lation, under somewhat singular pohce regulations. There is a 
mixture of every class of people, as to their religious preferences ; 
but a large number, perhaps one-fourth, are deists and atheists. 
These are the principles taught in the schools. The children are 
all taught to believe nothing but what the senses can demonstrate. 
This society is only in the incipient stage of the social community 
which Mr. Owen contemplates. Here men are to be prepared by 
a state of probation and discipline, to enter into that rest and 
happiness which he contemplates will be enjoyed by those who 
shall be divested of all religious hopes and fears. 

At evening, by arrangement of the committee, the meeting of the 
eociety for business was postponed, and opportunity given for me 
to deliver a lecture in the meeting-house. I did not begin in the 
usual way of public worship, but lectured on man, his nature, his 
character, wants, etc., the necessity of religion to such a being, the 
character of the gospel ; and then enforced the duty of following 
the guiding light of Scripture. A Mr. Jennings— head teacher, lee- 



208 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

turer, etc. — proposed to deliver a lecture in defence of his system 
some ten days hence. But this did not satisfy the public mind. 
Finally it was agreed that he should lecture the next evening, and 
give me opportunity to reply. I soon found the whole town in 
commotion. Parties were collected at the street corners, debating 
Numbers called on me presenting their grateful acknowledgmentF 
for my lecture, and expressing the hope that I would defend the 
truth. I cannot but think that God in his providence has sent me 
here to stay the devouring flood of infidelity and atheism. 

The following evening I heard Mr. Jennings deliver his lecture, 
in which he displayed considerable ingenuity, while supporting 
his principles of atheism. He did not come out openly and fully to 
the understanding of all, but presented the subject in such a way 
as could not be mistaken by an observing person. I replied to him 
in a short discourse, in which my endeavor was fully to expose his 
principles, and publicly declared that I would expose them through 
the country. It is now fully evident that Owen's system is based 
on atheism ; and that every effort will be made to erase from the 
minds of its receivers every idea of God. 

As a practical demonstration of the bitter fruits of this 
system Mr. Peck the next day visited a lady who was a 
member of a Baptist church in Cincinnati, and being in 
widowhood with several children, she had joined this com- 
munity of Owen's. Here she was induced to marry one of 
the members of it, who turned out very soon to be an atheist 
in full, who now laughs at and mocks her, and in every 
possible way interferes with her religious duties. She 
evinced the utmost distress in regard to her situation and 
that of her poor children. 

On his return home, a few days later, he found that a son 
named John Q. A. Peck had been born in his absence, and 
that Mrs. Peck in her accouchement had come near losing her 
life. God's goodness in sparing her called for the husband's 
warmest and most devout acknowledgments. He thus sums 
up the labors of this one journey : 

I have been absent from home fifty-three days ; have traveled 
through eighteen counties in Illinois, and nine in Indiana, rode nine 
hundred and twenty-six miles, preached regular sermons thirty-one 



ANTI-SLAVERY BAPTISTS — MISSOURI SLAVEHOLDERS. 209 

times, besides delivering several speeches, addresses, and lectures. I 
have been enabled to revive three Bible societies, which would never 
have been recognized but for my visit ; to establish seven new 
societies ; to visit and give instruction and encouragement in the 
management of two societies which had been formed without my 
aid ; and to provide for the formation of four others. I have aided 
in forming three Sabbath-school societies, and in opening several 
schools where no societies exist, and improved many important 
opportunities to aid the great cause in various ways. Now, Lord, 
give me both gratitude and humility, that I may praise thee for 
all my success, and seeing my own weakness and insignificance 
may sink into the dust of self-abasement, that I may never be 
proud or vain ! 

The remaining months of the year 1825 were filled to re- 
pletion with incessant engagements and labors of a somewhat 
multifarious character, in supplying monthly the colored and 
white churches in St. Louis, which had virtually if not 
formally separated ; in traveling among the associations and 
churches in Missouri and Illinois, especially in promoting the 
formation, strengthening and encouragement of Bible and 
Sunday-school societies in both these States, which threw on 
him, as their Corresponding Secretary, the laboring oar, and 
tasked every moment of his time in cares, toils, circulars and 
letters to prominent individuals. We cannot follow him 
minutely in these varied and most incessant labors, but will 
only glean here and there an item from his hurried journal. 

In October he attended the annual conference of the 
"Friends of Humanity," an association of anti-slavery Bap- 
tists, in Illinois, several of the members of which subse- 
quently became his warmest personal friends. This is his 
verdict in regard to their sentiments and practices at that 
period : 

I heard several discourses during the meeting. The preaching 
is rather tinctured with Arminianism. Too much stress is laid on 
the grace given equally to all men, and the whole result as depend- 
ing on the improvement which they make of it. This in particu- 
lar was the fault of a discourse from Father 0. At night the 
communion was observed, but there was far too much confusion 



210 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

and disorder during the observance, too much singing and shaking 
hands, far too much bodily effort. Still there are valuable things 
in this society, and, with some improvement, they will be far more 
useful then the cold Laodicean Baptists around them. 

He thus speaks of a Cumberland Presbyterian camp- 
meeting in Missouri : 

More than twenty professed to be converted, but from what I 
could learn, there was too much of the imagination predominant — 
such as seeing heaven, seeing hell, shaking hands with Christ, etc. 
Amongst ignorant people such excesses are frequent, but no 
doubt a good work is going on here. 

On a visit in the same month to St. Charles, Mo., he 
enters this minute : 

I am happy to find among the slaveholders in Missouri a growing 
disposition to have the blacks educated, and to patronise Sunday- 
schools for the purpose. I doubt not but by prudent efforts this 
may be effected extensively. 

At the end of the year, and for some three weeks after- 
wards, he was in and near Yandalia, the seat of government 
of Illinois at that time, preaching in the legislature halls in 
behalf of the Bible and Sunday-school cause. By public and 
personal appeals among those attending the session of the 
legislature, he was enabled to win many prominent men from 
all parts of the State to favor these objects. But he was en- 
couraged to aim at securing the funds possessed by a State 
agricultural society, which was now about to be dissolved, to 
be transferred to a Sunday-school society for the State. In 
this he was entirely successful, and together with some indi- 
vidual donations from members of the legislature, he secured 
about two hundred and sixty dollars for this object.^ 

In February, 1826,. while spending a few days in St. Louis 
he assisted in the ordination of Rev. J. B. Meacham, a 
colored brother, who then and even to his death was held in 
high esteem by all who knew him. The General Sunday-school 
Union also appointed him their agent to solicit funds in New 
York, Boston, and other eastern cities. The Auxiliary 



REFLECTIONS. 211 

Colonization Society of St. Louis also appointed him their 
agent and representative to the American Colonization 
Society, in whose efforts for the poor blacks he then, and 
through life, felt the greatest interest. 

Having in various' ways brought his important work in 
hand to a state of as much completeness as possible, he was 
prepared for an absence of several months in an eastern tour, 
which must be chronicled in the following chapter. 

Yery appropriate to the close of tRis are some general re- 
flections written near this time in the beginning of one of 
his journals, from which the following sentences have been 
condensed : 

I am beginning to fear that my mind is not as susceptible of high 
religious emotions as formerly. I have less, far less feeling about 
missions, but more firmness, resolution and perseverance to 
accomplish my objects. In fine, I view an unseen hand guiding 
me in all my ways, and desire to trust myself entirely to His dis- 
posal. Though my labors have been more arduous, and have more 
exposed me to the severity of weather and climate for the last 
two years than before, I have enjoyed better health. After mature 
deliberation, and ten years experience since I devoted my life as a 
pioneer in the army of the Eedeemer, I am as firm and unshaken in 
my resolution, as at the first moment I enlisted. I have been 
sorely tried, my character reproached, and my name cast out as 
evil, but I do not desire to give up the cause of missions or com- 
promise one of its principles. Though my lot is not what I ex- 
pected, yet I have hitherto been enabled to act on the great 
principle I adopted at the first, viz. : that my time, property, talents 
family^ body, soul, and all that I have and am, are sacredly conse- 
crated to the missionary cause, as God's providence may order and 
direct ; whether in the Bible, Sunday-school or missionary employ, 
it is all with the same end in view. Lord, help me to continue 
faithful and devoted to thee ! 



212 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

A Nine-montlis' tour to the Eastern and Middle States. 

The time had at length arrived when imperative duty as 
well as strong inclination led Mr. Peck for the first time after 
his removal to the West to set his face towards the scenes 
and friends of his earlier years. The nine years of his separa- 
tion from them had in no degree dimmed his perceptions 
of their worth, or chilled his heart towards them. On the 
other hand, so free and frequent had been his correspondence, 
and so vividly was all the past impressed on his mind, that 
soon as circumstances permitted he yearned to revisit the 
loved ones he had left so long. But stronger inducements 
than any mere personal gratification impelled him to this 
journey. He had borne into the deep mine the explorer's 
torch, and felt an intense solicitude to rally to his aid the 
requisite assistance to secure the rich treasures which he had 
discovered. For six of these years, single-handed and with 
but little aid from abroad, he had been manfully battling for 
truth and righteousness, for the enlightenment and evangel- 
ization of the mighty West, and he was now constrained to 
report to the churches of New England and New York what 
had been done, and what further eff"orts were immediately 
demanded. He was the first who, from jninute, thorough 
general knowledge, brought the appeal to the Baptist churches 
of the East to come up promptly and energetically to the help 
of their less-favored brethren in the West. While he had felt 
constrained to correct many extravagant misrepresentations 
which others had sent forth on this subject, and for this pur- 
pose, throughout the previous year, had been writing a series 
of articles in the " Christian Watchman," Boston, designed to 
refute many of these misconceptions, he felt equally bound on 
the other hand not to let the real and pressing religious wants 



VISIT TO CINCINNATI. 213 

of the great valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries remain 
unheeded. Yery well did he understand also that a personal 
appeal would be much more efficient than any other. 

The record of this tour fills nearly ninety pages of a quarto 
volume of his journal, besides another folio volume of sixty- 
seven pages, full of memoranda of various observations in 
regard to weather, soil, topography, statistics, and whatever 
he deemed most interesting not falling within the range of 
his ordinary diary. These materials are superabundant, be- 
sides which personal recollections in ample fullness and vari- 
ety here come to the aid of the biographer. But necessity 
seems to demand the compression of the most permanently 
important of all these into the limits of a single chapter. 

Mr. Peck left his home and family on the 22d of February, 
and journeyed on horseback to Cincinnati, a distance of three 
hundred and forty-eight miles. His health was not good, and 
the weather and traveling were most wearisome and forbidding, 
so that with the delays thus occasioned he consumed nearly 
three weeks in this part of the journey. Over a great part 
of this route he had traveled before, and here his way was 
cheered by the society and hospitality of old friends. He 
did what he could in public and private to strengthen the 
things which remained — the Bible societies, Sunday-schools, 
and little half-destitute churches. On reaching the eastern 
portion of Indiana, he came upon new ground, and formed 
new and interesting acquaintances. The Hon. Judge Holman, 
near Aurora was one of these, and a life-long intimacy and 
friendship grew out of it to their mutual satisfaction and the 
benefit of the cause. 

On reaching Cincinnati, which he now visited for the first 
time, he found a more interesting state of things, both in the 
city, where he remained five days, and in the State of Ohio, 
of which he could here learn much more than had before been 
known to him, — than he had even dared to anticipate. Mea- 
sures were now set on foot by the personal appeals of one 
or more of the brethren to the churches, which soon after 
resulted in the formation of the Ohio Baptist Convention 



214 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

for domestic missions and education purposes. In the city 
also be found himself surrounded by warm-hearted, intelligent 
brethren, whose attentions to him and zeal for the cause 
greatly encouraged his heart. Preaching to the Enon Bap- 
tist church then worshiping in Walnut street, he found a 
larger and more respectable assembly than he had addressed 
for many years. Religion was flourishing, and additions were 
made to the church every month. Here, too, a high and 
increasing missionary spirit was manifest, and for his work's 
sake he found himself surrounded by warm-hearted, devoted 
friends, and almost devoured by the demonstrations of their 
kindness. By special request he preached to them on Lord's- 
da}" evening a missionary discourse, and a collection w^as taken- 
for their own missionary purposes. So wearied had both man 
and horse been by struggling through rain and mud to this 
place that he was induced to put both on board a steamer, and 
in this way accomplished with ease and satisfaction the next 
four hundred miles to Wheeling. It seems to have been his 
first experience of traveling any considerable distance in this 
manner, by which subsequently he was to experience so much 
of benefit and peril. He remarks on the rattling and crashing 
of the engines, and the bustle and confusion on board, as 
rendering it impracticable to have public worship on the 
Sabbath as he had desired, and as on the large boats was 
often practicable. In three and a half days he arrived at 
Wheeling, and thence proceeded on horseback with ease and 
expedition over the national road towards Washington city. 

In Washington, Pa., he mentions an interesting interview 
which he had with Rev. Charles Wheeler, pastor of the Bap- 
tist church in that place (subsequently President of Rector 
College, Western Virginia), who gave him a pretty clear idea 
of the continued difficulties in the Redstone Baptist Associa- 
tion, where there was a hyper-Calvinistic party, very rigid 
and bigoted, and where Alexander Campbell was more and 
more manifesting his opposition to the above party and their 
shibboleth, while still a third and more numerous portion of 
that body maintained a middle ground. 



WASHINGTON CITY — RICE AND STAUGHTON. 215 

At Cumberland, where he spent a Sabbath, he mentions 
hearing an excellent sermon from the Lutheran minister ; he 
also visited and promoted the Sunday-schools in the place, 
and preached in the evening. Rev. Isaac McCoy, having 
passed through the place recently with several young Indians 
whom he was taking for education in some of the Northern 
colleges, had awakened considerable interest in the subject of 
Indian missions, which the good people desired to have fanned 
into a flame. They persuaded Mr. Peck to stop on Monday 
and organize a juvenile society for this purpose. He did so 
^ith pleasure, preaching again on this subject, thus waken- 
ing anew his own zeal and love for this kindred evangelical 
enterprise. 

By the end of March he reached Washington city, and 
found himself surrounded, as he said, by every thing grand, 
pompous, ceremonious, intelligent, and these traits probably 
counterbalanced by those of the opposite character. His old 
friends, Rice and Dr. Staughton, welcomed him cordially. But 
he soon saw the incipient coolness and distrust which was 
beginning to manifest itself between them and their respect- 
ive adherents, which, before another month was at an 
end, blazed out into open rupture. He visited the Capitol, 
and heard McDuffie, and other of the principal speakers of 
that era. Considerable of his time was also spent in the 
Columbian College, into whose affairs, pecuniary and literary, 
he seems to have looked somewhat closely. He preached 
both in the city and in the college chapel ; and in company 
with the member of Congress from his district, he waited on 
President Adams, for whom he had felt so much admiration 
that he had just named his youngest son after him. The last 
Lord's day he was here, Dr. Staughton delivered in the chapel 
a lecture on the wisdom of God in redemption, of which he 
says : " Though the Doctor has failed in a number of respects, 
I could see his usual vivacity and eloquence at times during 
the discourse." The same evening he mentions holding a 
long and painful conversation with his friend Luther Rice on 
the various topics connected with the college and missions, 



216 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

and became more fully impressed with the serious diflSculties 
which threatened disturbance and the separation of those who 
had been warm friends, by coldness, distrust, and jealousy. 
With commendable prudence he determined to forbear ex- 
pressing any judgment on these things till he had been enabled 
to judge coolly and understandingly. 

After a fortnight spent in the national capital, during a por- 
tion of which time he was a housed-sufi'erer from a severe 
influenza, he passed on through Baltimore, where a single day 
sufficed him to renew his acquaintance with the Baptist pastors 
and other friends, and by the middle of April again reache(f 
Philadelphia, where so many pleasant associations and recol- 
lections of the happy months of hjs student life were awakened. 

Lord's-day morning he preached for Rev. Mr. Dagg, pastor 
of Sansom street church, and in the evening listened to one, who 
had been a fellow-student, in the same pulpit, of whose perform- 
ance he thus speaks : *' He was rather too rapid and violent 
in his tones and gestures ; otherwise there would have been 
many admirable strokes of eloquence in his discourse, which . 
on the whole was ingenious and instructive. Several times 
he had the attention of the audience roused up to the highest 
pitch, but had not the faculty of letting them down again 
without too sudden and abrupt a transition." He rejoiced 
also in the evidences of respect and love evinced by this 
church and congregation for their new pastor, the successor 
of his beloved instructor, Dr. Staughton. 

His days and nights were here a continuous round of 
welcomes among the friends he had formerly known and 
loved. He mentions dining With a large company of Pres- 
byterian ministers at the hospitable mansion of Alexander 
Henry, President of the American Sunday-school Union. In 
this city and its surroundings, among which is prominently 
to be mentioned his dear friend and yoke-fellow's -home at 
Mt. Holly and Burlington, New Jersey, he spent the next ten 
days. Almost every day or night, or both, he was called 
out for sermons, lectures, addresses, all bearing more or less 
directly on the stores of definite and reliable information 



NEW YOIIK ANNIVERSARIES. 211 

which he could furnish in regard to the mighty West — its 
wants, its capabilities, and its prospects. 

From the 26th of April to the 1th of May he was in 
attendance on the session of the Tfiennial Convention in 
New York, enjoying the hospitality of his old Dutchess 
county friend Deacon Purser. There we met (his biographer 
and himself), after eleven years separation. In the early part 
of the session he was ill a day or two, and afterward in the 
painful collisions so manifest and wide-reaching, between 
some of his choicest early friends, he was very silent. In- 
deed, he said little in public during that whole meeting. But 
he was a keen observer, a good listener, and then and there 
he learned to read the characteristics of many of those who 
were more or less directly associated with him through the 
remainder of his eventful life. There may have been another 
reason which restrained him from taking a more prominent 
part in those debates, besides the revering love he felt for the 
leaders on both sides. He felt that immensely great and 
sacred interests had been confided to him and his advocacy, 
and he would not needlessly imperil them by mixing himself 
with the debates, so engrossing and exciting, which were now 
transpiring. He was no scheming, sellish trimmer, at this or 
at any period of his life ; but he knew how to reserve him^ 
self for an emergency of transcendent interest, compared 
with which the animosities and collisions, chiefly of a personal 
character, which now stirred the blood so quickly, were but 
as the small chaff of the summer threshing-floor. 

On both the Sabbaths during the session he preached, and 
with liveliest interest he visited as many of the best con- 
ducted Sabbath-schools as possible. The one in Yandam 
(now McDougal) street was reckoned at that time one of the 
largest and best schools in the city, and he made himself 
thoroughly acquainted with its whole plan, and system of 
operations. His verdict, after a full, repeated examination of 
it, was, that it was probably the best conducted Sunday-school 
in the world. "All the scholars are closely instructed into 

the meaning of the Scripture." His old fellow-pupil in the 
19 



218 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Dutchess Academy at Poughkeepsie, Rev. Aaron Perkins, 
was then pastor of this church, and with him and their 
former preceptor, Daniel H. Barnes, associate principal with 
Dr. Griscom of one of the most important high schools of the 
city, he enjoyed a delightful re-union. 

Immediately succeeding the Triennial Convention, the 
usual May anniversaries of general religious benevolence 
were held in New York. These he attended with absorbing 
interest and satisfaction, particularly the assemblage of five 
or six thousand Sunday-school children in Castle Garden, 
where Mars with his murderous accompaniments had been 
turned out to let this lovely throng of Sunday-scholars in, 
with their sweet faces and peaceful, holy banners, where 
their hosannahs to the Prince of peace went up in blessed 
harmony, and where prayers and addresses of a most appro- 
priate and spirit-striking character were listened to, and drew 
forth the exultation of his soul. The American Bible Society, 
as a special and well-merited token of its favor, made him an 
honorary life-member, for the important and distinguished 
favor he had rendered to their cause in the West. This was 
the first time he had ever been permitted to mingle in their 
anniversary services. To all of them, the American Tract 
Society, the American Home Mission, and the Coloniza- 
tion Society, as well as those before mentioned, he gave his 
attention, as a large-hearted man, loving his whole country 
and his race, should do. His remarks on the several addresses 
to which he had listened on this occasion are eminently just 
and generous, while also they are faithfully discriminating. 
Mcllvaine, then Professor and Chaplain at West Point, and 
now Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Ohio, received his 
highest praise in these words : " For sound reasoning, solid 
eloquence, and brilliancy of thought, I have never heard his 
address surpassed." 

These services all over, he brought his horse from New 
Jersey, where it had been kept during his sojourn in New 
York, and hastened to his mother in his native town. The 
floods of rain which impeded his journey on setting out from 



VISIT TO HIS NATIVE PLACE. 219 

home had now been- exchanged for drought, and the roads 
were so dry and dusty as to make his ride very unpleasant. 
Passing through Stamford and Stratfield on the afternoon of 
Thursday, the 18th of May, he says : 

I drew near to the hills and prospects upon which a thousand 
times I had gazed in childhood — my native town. How many 
pleasing and painful associations rush into the mind, on returning 
to one's native home after an absence of years ! Changes have 
occurred, a new generation has started up, the old people have 
mostly vanished from the earth ; but the hills and valleys, the 
rocks and rills remain unchanged. Arrived at my mother's house 
near night ; found her alone, and again a widow. Mr. King, whom 
she had married after my father's death, died in February last. 
Her health seems tolerably good, but age has silvered even her 
locks, leaving the heart still unchilled. 

The next few days his health was but indifferent, and he 
felt the weariness and prostration whiyh the journey and the 
scenes of excitement through which he had passed naturally 
would produce. He visited among old neighbors and friends 
with considerable interest. On Lord's-day he went to the 
house of the Lord where in boyhood he had been accustomed 
to attend, and heard a young candidate, of whose perform- 
ances the following characteristic notice occurs in his journal : 

He preached both morning and afternoon from Jer. xvii. 9 : "The 
heart is deceitful and desperately wicked." He drew a very horrid 
picture of the natural heart, by showing what man might do, pro- 
vided he had opportunity, and was not restrained. It is question- 
able whether this metaph^^-sical mode of preaching, developing so 
much from the mental and moral capability, is calculated to do any 
great good. One thing I remarked, that both discourses did not 
contain enough of the gospel method of salvation to direct a single 
inquirer to Christ. 

The next week he hastened off by stage through Hartford, 
where he spent a day or two conferring with brethren in 
regard to the great errand with which he felt himself charged 
— help for the West. Then he hurried out to Worcester, and 
passed the night with Rev. Jonathan Going, and doubtless 

9 



220 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

kindled up those sparks which half a dozen years later burst 
forth into a genial flame, and led to the formation of the 
American Baptist Home Mission Society. Then he hastened 
to Boston, conferred with the pastors there, and on Lord's- 
day preached for three of them. The following week the 
religious anniversaries of New England were held in that 
city, which he attended with lively interest. Wednesday 
morning in the Baldwin Place Baptist church the anniversary 
of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was held. 
^His record is : 

Dr. Sharp read his annual report, and addresses were listened to 
from Gammel, Dunbar, Benedict, Lynd, Babcock and myself. It 
was an interesting and most impressive meeting. 

Certainly it was so to some of us who heard him for the 
first time let out without stint the pent-up flames of holy 
zeal which consumed him. That very afternoon the trustees 
came together, and he explained to them, in minuteness of 
detail, the plan of operations which he deemed most suited to 
the wants of the West. Next day, his plan in its general 
principles was adopted. He was appointed agent and commis- 
sioned to go forth and raise the requisite funds to put the 
system into operation. " Let me stop," says he, "to acknowl- 
edge the Divine goodness in disposing these excellent brethren 
to enter with so much spirit and life into the business. Oh, 
for God's blessing to follow I" 

This plan of operations as described by himself was three- 
fold. 1. A system of circuit preaching for the States of 
Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana — giving to each circuit 
preacher to be employed, under direction of a committee in 
each of these States, an average sum of one hundred dollars 
per annum, and the remainder of his support to be secured 
on his field. 2. An efficient preacher and teacher to be 
secured for St. Louis, who would be able, it was thought, 
to one-half sustain himself by the income of a school, and 
steadily supply the church in that important city. 3. The get- 
ting up a theological school in Illinois for all these States, 



THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN ILLINOIS. 221 

where young men, approved as preachers, might have the 
intellectual training which they needed, and be aided also in 
preparing themselves specially for preaching, and the pastor- 
ship of the churches. 

In regard to this last he says, in a letter written about 
this time : 

The theological school has been an object in my mind for years, 
as a very necessary part of that system of measures which I have 
attempted to carry forward ; but I have never seen the time to 
accomplish it until now. Friends about Boston and other places* 
have come forward to aid, so that I can now (August 17th) reckon 
upon about five hundred dollars, as secured, and hope to get the 
remainder which will be necessary. Of the importance of such an 
institution in the West there can be no question ; and yet I expect 
that some of those for whose benefit it is designed will oppose it 
with all their might, as they now oppose missions, Bible societies, 
and Sunday-schools. But I cannot bear that our preachers in 
Illinois and Missouri should continue as ignorant as some of them 
now are. There are some who wish to improve their minds, and 
gain useful learning. Young men who commence preaching with 
very inadequate education will avail themselves of such a school, 
with immense benefit to themselves and the cause. 

When it is considered how much we have sacrificed in removing 
to the Western country to promote the interests of religion and 
the welfare of society, I cannot bear the thought of living and 
dying without an attempt to establish an institution which, by 
proper measures, may grow into a respectable theological school. 
I hope to live to see a range of brick buildings put up, adequate to 
accommodate one hundred students, and where a regular course of 
instruction can be enjoyed. 

To qualify himself to act as a wise pioneer and guide in 
such an undertaking he managed incidentally to visit all the 
similar institutions which had been established — Columbian 
College, Brown University, Hamilton and Newton Institu- 
tions — and learned all tlie interesting facts in regard to their 
beginning, progress, and present state, thus preparing his 
own mind fully with all the needed facts, so as to avoid mis- 
takes and secure advantages. 



222 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

But his chief labors for the summer months of this year 
were devoted to traveling and awakening an intelligent in- 
terest among churches, pastors, and all the more influential 
members of the community, in regard to means of benefiting 
the West He aimed indeed to secure contributions to the 
Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts, by which he 
had been commissioned and sent forth ; but it was obvious to 
all with whom he came in contact Miat he aimed less at get- 
ting as many dollars as possible at present than at the diffusing 
,of correct information which would lead to permanent bene- 
factions for this work. Well did he understand that giving a 
cup of cold water to a weary pilgrim in the desert is not 
comparable in its abiding good influence to digging a well 
there, which may remain a blessing for generations to come. 
During these three months he traveled chiefly in Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Eastern New York, 
nearly fourteen hundred miles, and laid adequate foundations, 
as was believed, for the safe and successful commencement 
of all parts of his system of operations. 

Besides this, we are to remember that he went everj'^where 
with his eyes, and ears, and heart open, to learn and appre- 
ciate whatever was excellent and worthy of imitation. Occa- 
sional glintings of his convictions — as now a traveled Yankee 
he returned to investigate more broadly and compare more 
justly his native New England with fairer and more fertile 
regions elsewhere — will peep out in his journals and letters 
of this period. He particularly remarked with some aston- 
ishment the littleness and narrowness of views, the hidebound 
prejudices which here so generally prevailed, as they were 
iiow magnified by contrast. But he did full justice, at the 
same time, to the taste, the moral integrity, the industry and 
sobriety, as well as the provident carefulness (not to say par- 
simony), which he here witnessed. Their neat and inviting 
villages, with the church-edifice and the school-house in 
central prominence, indicated unmistakably the elements of 
New England's welfare and happiness. These, too, by a 
species of social transmission, she was sending abroad and 



FILIAL AFFECTION — RETURNS WEST. 223 

planting and nurturing all over the fertile West. Here was 
the hedged-up nursery, where the seedlings were defended 
while taking root, and, if need be, receiving the budding or 
inoculation which insured the excellence of their fruits. *' But 
then," said he, " thej need to be transplanted to a broader 
and more fertile field, where they will have ample space and 
verge enough to be rooted in our broad, rich prairies, and bring 
forward under more genial skies their abundant products." 

Yery pleasant would it be to lead our readers more in 
detail, to follow him from city to city, from village to village, 
from the college halls to the workshop and the extensive 
manufactory, during these months of exploration. "What he 
then and there learned of the intellectual, moral, social, and 
religious principles and practices of New England was of 
essential service to him ever afterward. But we dare not 
dwell longer upon this topic. 

While he was gaining information of utmost advantage to 
himself, he was also continually imparting that kind of definite, 
practical knowledge of the West, its allurements, its capabilities, 
its wants and its dangers, which was greatly conducive to its 
prosperity, and was most useful and necessary for those who 
in their own persons, or their children and friends, were about 
to transfer themselves or tlieir interests thither. The circu- 
lars which he distributed, the addresses, lectures, and various 
appeals which he delivered, his private intercourse in the 
families wherever he was domiciled for an hour, a day, or a 
half-week, made their ineffaceable impression and did much 
good. The broad catholicity and generous liberalism of his 
views was also at this time and ever afterward more and 
more evident. He was not less a Baptist, thorough and 
decided ; but he learned the wisdom and advantage of heart- 
ily uttering one form of apostolical benediction: "Grace be 
with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 

It had almost from his first return to his mother been 
obvious to him that as her only offspring his filial duty made 
it imperative that he should render her few remaining days 
as comfortable as possible. She was in comparative poverty, 



224 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

and he saw no other way open for him to do this, but to pay 
her debts and remove her to his home in the West. To this 
proposition she cheerfully consented. About the middle of 
September he had accomplished the details of this trouble- 
some business, had procured an easy two-horse carriage, built 
under his special directions, and an additional horse, and set 
forth with his mother by easy stages for his distant home. 
Crossing the Hudson river at Catskill, he visited his early 
home at New Durham, and then proceeded by the way of 
Buffalo and the south shore of Lake Erie, and through the 
great State of Ohio to Cincinnati, where he spent several 
days in soliciting and purchasing such articles as he most 
needed for the building of his seminary-edifice, on which his 
heart was now so much set. The cordial approval and aid 
of the brethren here very much cheered him. Setting forth 
again he was favored for the most part with fine weather and 
roads, and made good progress. He stopped at one or two 
places in Central Indiana to promote the objects of his Bible 
society agency, and reached his home Thursday evening the 
23d of November, having ^ode forty-four miles that short da}^ 
He found his family in good health, and overjoyed to see him 
once more in their midst. He had been absent nine months 
and one day, and reached home just one day earlier than he 
had told them to expect him when he wrote to them of his 
time of setting out on his return journey three months before. 
Devout, grateful, and humble are the acknowledgments he 
records of the Divine goodness to himself and his family 
during this period of their separation. But specially did he 
record with overflowing thankfulness his sense of the Divine 
favor in so prospering the great objects of his journey that 
besides securing aid for the support of many preachers in this 
Western field, he had also obtained in money, building-mate- 
rials, and books and apparatus for his proposed seminary, 
about seven hundred and fifty dollars, or three-fourths of what 
he deemed requisite to be raised abroad for setting it in opera- 
tion. To effect this he had traveled by land and water in his 
whole journey four thousand four hundred miles. 



NEED OF THEOLOGICAL TRAINING. 225 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Establisliment of Rock Spring Seminary. 

No soooer was Mr. Peck fairly at home again, and moving 
in his accustomed circuit among his brethren and neighbors 
in that region, than he began in earnest to lead their minds 
to the same conviction which he had long entertained, that 
one prime essential for the religious welfare of the West was 
the establishment of a seminary of a comprehensive and some- 
what unique character, where the elements of a good, tiior- 
ough, practical English education should be open to all on 
very economical principles, and where teachers of common 
schools could receive better instruction tfean many of them 
had enjoyed, but especially (and that was to be its grand 
peculiarity) where ministers of the gospel, whether young, 
or farther advanced in years, could come and spend more 
or less time, according to their several circumstances and 
exigencies, in learning those things in which their deficien- 
cies were the most painfully felt, pertaining to their great 
duties in preaching the gospel and building up the churches 
aright. He saw plainly that to lay down a full ordinary 
course, embracing two years to fit for college, and four 
years curriculum, within its walls, and then two or three 
years of theological training afterwards, would from the out- 
set repel nine-tenths of those whose favor it was so important 
to conciliate. Abiding cheerfully by the old-fashioned Baptist 
doctrine that the churches were to be the judges in every case 
whether any of their members were called of the Lord to 
preach the gospel, and that those thus called were to give 
themselves to study, to meditation, to reading, to doctrine 
[teaching], that their profiting might appear unto all, and 
they be enabled to make full proof of their ministry, he could 
not doubt that, in circumstances such as existed in the vast 



226 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Western field, where in the little, feeble churches so many of 
desirable gifts Avere being raised up to labor in the great 
spiritual harvest field, many of them would be found, like 
Apollos, taught of the Lord, i.e., regenerated, and fervent in 
spirit, i.e., imbued with a noble Christian zeal, who would 
still need to have some experienced disciples, like Aquila and 
Priscilla, take them in hand, and teach them the way of the 
Lord more perfectly. Occasionally such privileges might be 
secured with some private family, or in traveling with some 
able and discreet preacher. But such opportunities would be 
rare. 

It was manifestly needful that there should be some place to 
which such young or inexperienced ones might repair, and 
receive the aid which they so much needed. Some were 
called to preach when they could scarce read a chapter or a 
hymn intelligently. How obviously requisite that they should 
be taught to read the Divine word, and give the sense, and cause 
the people to understand the records contained in (he infalli- 
ble guide-hook I It is scarcely needful, here, to go over this 
ground more thoroughly, and reproduce the arguments and 
the answers to objections which required to be so often com- 
batted forty or fifty years ago. More germane to the present 
purpose will it be to trace with some minuteness the success- 
ful methods employed to disarm the hostility of even good 
men to this enterprise ; to root out the prejudices, and correct 
the misconceptions which unhappily had taken possession of 
their minds, and bring them to entertain the idea of, and then 
co-operate in securing the facilities which such an institution 
would afford. To this end his correspondence, his visits, his 
attendance on associations, and the various gatherings where 
ministers and other brethren of influence came together were 
mainly directed, for the next few weeks immediately after his 
return from his eastern tour. True there were other duties, 
domestic and official, which engrossed a portion of his time. 
He was obliged to enlarge his dwelling to make a comfortable 
suit of apartments for his somewhat uneasy mother ; and he 
had to visit, and plan, and readjust very often the measures 



CONSTANT LABORS — SE.MINARY BEGUN. 221 

for the resuscitation of the White Baptist church in St. 
Louis, which often seemed nearly extinct ; and he had to 
superintend the appointment and incipient action of the com- 
mittees of superintendence, for selecting and locating his 
circuit preachers in three great States, and moreover he was 
the secretary and chief functionary relied on for promoting 
the Bible society and Sunday-school interest in all this field. 
Nine months absence had accumulated no little labor in all 
these departments on his hands. Many kinks and entangle- 
ments had been accumulating, which awaited his wise, 
energetic, and loving efforts to smooth out, so that the work 
might again go forward unimpeded. When with all this you 
join the care and enterprise devolving on him alone, to pro- 
vide for and train up a numerous family, with but slender and, 
as most of us would think, altogether inadequate means, no 
marvel that he complains of over-work. His now tender 
hands he had to ply through the day to stone and brick and 
mortar ; and at night, when other toiling men rested from 
their fatigue, his sore and stiffened fingers had to grasp the 
pen and issue as many epistles during the long evening as 
most leisurely lecturers would think it possible to accomplish 
in the whole day. It would be easy to demonstrate all this 
multifarious activity of these important months. 

Yet in the midst of it all, he appears to have been blessed 
with unusual enjoyments. Such acknowledgments as the 
following occur in his diary at this period : 

I have enjoyed a peculiar flow of religious feeling, with only 
occasional seasons of darkness, when fretted by the vexations of 
life. Have a growing zeal in the cause of Christ, especially to carry 
into effect the public measures I have been maturing. I rise early, 
between five and six o'clock (this was mid-winter), labor on with 
much toil and fatigue, incessantly, and cannot retire till after eleven 
o'clock. Yet I burn with zeal to be more laborious and do more 
good. I never felt so far removed from selfishness, or any personal 
desires or aims. I am somehow pressed forward in a great work. 
Yast and important benefits for future generations seem to hang 
on present efforts. Had I the means I could cheerfully sacrifice 



228 me:moir of joiin m. ri:cK. 

thousands for the good of the cause ; and such as I have of time, 
talents, efforts, endurance, I cheerfully offer. 

After visiting Yandalia — then the seat of government of 
Illinois — and conferring with as many brethren, ministers, and 
public-spirited citizens as possible, as well as writing to as 
many more, a meeting was called at Rock Spring the first 
of January, and an organization of trustees effected, with 
great unanimity. They located the seminar}^, on land given 
by Mr. Peck for this purpose. Early in February he con- 
tracted with oarpenters to put up and cover in the edifice. It 
was raised by the end of May. Nearly every thing con- 
nected with this effort rested on his shoulders, and he was 
constantly performing the usual work of two or three men 
besides, in his preaching, his agency for missions, Bible and 
tract societies, and Sunday-schools. It can scarcely be 
claimed that all this was just as well done, as though he 
could have given more undivided attention to each sphere of 
service. Occasionally at the end of a week of unintermitted 
and harassing over- work, and perplexing care, his journal 
indicates how unfitted he felt for Sabbath ministrations. But 
his rule was to do the very best in his power under these in- 
felicitous circumstances. Subscriptions for the seminary had 
to be gathered, and he was a complete factotum, a servant of 
all work, in the general organizations he had originated. 

In perusing the extensive correspondence which he held with 
those he was striving to interest in this great work of found- 
ing a theological and high school, one cannot but be deeply 
impressed with the variety and sturdy character of the 
opposition which he was forced to grapple with and overcome. 
Far the larger number of so-called Baptist ministers at that 
day, in the two or three States contiguous to this institution, 
were most decidedly opposed to this movement. In the 
" Friends of Humanity" or emancipationists, he found more 
favor for this object, and though he never joined with them 
in their peculiar organization, he induced a large proportion 
of them to unite with him in carrying out this and most of 
his other plans for evangelizing purposes. The anti-mission 



ROCK SPRING SEMINARY OPENED. 229 

Baptists about this period came into an organization by them- 
selves, sundering churches and associations very frequently to 
secure themselves against the infection of contact or fellow- 
ship with those who were seeking by all lawful means to carry 
into effect our Divine Master's great commission — to publish 
the gospel to every creature. Thus was the singular spectacle 
presented of a party separating themselves from their brethren, 
denouncing and excluding them, on the pretence of greater 
piety and more exact conformity to New-Testament order, 
whose chief peculiarity consisted in their opposition to the 
Saviour's mandate, *' Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature" — evangelize all nations. It is vain 
to pretend that these ministers and churches were only oppos- 
ing some (to them) objectionable methods of complying with 
the risen Saviour's commission, for they did not prosecute any 
other method. Jealousy, least they in their ignorance should 
be cast into the shade — prejudice which shuts itself in and 
will not come to the light — and the covetousness which 
grudges any expense for educational or evangelizing purposes, 
were probably the main elements of this opposition. Mr. Peck 
had full experience of their combined power. But he had 
counted the cost, and now set his face like a flint against this 
array of opposition. Slowly and with difficulty his work was 
going on, and the leaven of a quickening light and truth, 
most salutary in its effects, was permeating the mass of the 
Protestant community. This whole effort for raising up such 
a seminary in such a community, at such a time, reminds one 
vividly of Nehemiah's repairing the wall of Jerusalem with 
the weapons of defence in one hand, while vigorously build- 
ing up with the other. So successful was the effort that early 
in September a boarding-house was raised, and 1st November, 
1827, a seminary was opened for the admission of pupils. 
The venerable Father Joshua Bradley was made principal, 
Mr. Peck Professor of Theology, and other professors and 
tutors were secured, so that very soon the number of students 
flocking to enter and enjoy its advantages far exceeded their 

most sanguine expectations. This very success embarrassed 
20 



230 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

them. It led probably to some extravagant expectations 
which could not be realized, and as this mortifying disappoint- 
ment met them in the face, some of their associates were dis- 
couraged and turned back. In these various alternations it 
is most cheering to witness the steadfast zeal of the chief 
founder. Never for a moment did he waver ; but in sunshine 
and storm, when all was hopeful, or when reverses came thick 
and aggravatingly upon them, he yielded to no discourage- 
ment, but held on his vigorous, enterprising, persistent course. 
To this alone, or almost alone, was it owing that the seminary 
was made for years successful and eminently useful, until its 
removal to another locality and its enlargement to a college 
was its culminating triumph. 

The large portion of the pupils at first came together with 
extravagant ideas of what w;as to be done for them by a few 
months instruction. They verily expected to be made very 
learned, very eloquent, very accomplished, by the influence 
which the seminary and the professors were to exert on them*; 
and when, after three or four quarters instruction, they still 
found themselves, and had to be again and again reminded, 
sometimes in a way unwelcome to their pride, that they were 
as yet but mere beginners, it was easy to see they were not 
satisfied, and that the way to account for their disappointment, 
most soothing to their self-esteem, was to throw the blame on 
the management of the institution. -JSTo marvel, therefore, 
that complaints became rife, and changes once and again were 
made to meet these unreasonable expectations. 

When all other resources failed them, the usual resort was 
to fall back on Brother Peck or his family If no one else 
could so manage the boarding department of the seminary as 
to give satisfaction, an appeal was made to Mrs. Peck whether 
she would not consent, rather than all should fail, to remove 
into the boarding-house and become stewardess and matron. 
So when the old veteran in setting academies agoing — Father 
Bradley — was unable to give the satisfaction which unreason- 
able expectations demanded, the question came back at last, 
" Will not our professor of theology consent for a while at 



TROUBLES WITH ST. LOUIS CHURCH. '231 

least to become principal of the literary and scientific depart- 
ment also ?" Necessity knows no law but the hard one which 
it makes, and submission to its requirements here seemed im- 
perative. 

All this would have been less intolerable, but for the 
multifarious cares and engagements into which already he 
had been drawn. There were, first of all, the complications 
and embarrassments connected with the church and the un- 
finished church-edifice in St. Louis. In the outset, when all 
was fair and hopeful, certain brethren who had some little 
pecuniary ability were induced to embark it in that most 
doubtful and hopeless of all adventures, a loan to build a 
meeting-house for a fluctuating and uncertain church. Some 
of these generous lenders were now dead, and the widows and 
fatherless children became clamorous for repayment. Others 
feeling that their claims were larger and just as sacred, in- 
sisted on sharing equally in the liquidation attempted. Nor 
was there any pecuniary ability now in the church to meet 
these demands. Mr. Peck had been a member of it when 
the debts had been contracted, and though having no money 
to loan, had freely given his name and notes, w^hich were now 
presented and pressed for payment. How often, in all these 
years and months of his engrossing cares and toils at home, 
does the item creep into the diary — " Had to hurry over to St. 
Louis and arrange for meeting the claims of the creditors of 
the meeting-house," or some words of like import. These 
efiTorts were for the most part temporary palliatives, delays, 
not payments. At one time, near the close of 1827, he met 
with the trustees of the Baptist church, St. Louis, and they 
"agreed to divide the house, pay the interest, and eventually 
liquidate the principal of the old debt, and put the rest of the 
building in a state of repair." Then, before he left the city^ 
he learned that all these well-laid plans were likely to fail 
from the interference of the municipal government, in passing 
a law widening a street, and thus cutting off twelve feet from 
the side of the house. 

On another occasion he went to St. Louis to attend the 



232 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

annual meeting of the Western Sunday-school Union, and 
found to his mortification and grief that the resident managers 
had made no preparation whatever for the meeting. In about 
as much impatience as ever escaped from him, he says : ''It 
seems as if they looked to me to go forward and do every 
thing." Patiently and resolutely he went on and did up their 
neglected duty and his own together — secured the meeting, 
though by very great efforts. This could be borne occasionally, 
but where as now the pressure and strain became habitual, with 
no relaxation from such severe tension, the healthful vigor 
and elasticity of mind and body must fail together. 

In the meantime God was preparing some alleviation for 
his over-burthened servant of another kind. Revivals began 
to appear in several parts of his wide field of labor. In the 
poor, cold, and long dwindling church at Fefee, northwest of 
St. Louis, in Missouri, at Edwardsville, and at the seminary 
itself, in Illinois, and in his own family ; w^hen, on returning 
home from a preaching excursion in the autumn of 1828, he 
found to his inexpressible satisfaction, that his eldest daughter 
had experienced the converting grace of God. She had been 
under conviction for some time, much distressed, and while in 
her room at prayer Sunday night, she found blessed relief, and 
broke forth into shouts of praise. Thus while her toiling father, 
many miles off, was preaching the gospel to others, God waa 
pouring into the heart of his precious child the consolations 
of that truth which he was proclaiming. [He was preaching at 
that very hour from 1 John iii. 1-3. ] How sweetly was the 
promise verified, " He that watereth shall be watered." 

It was after being permitted to visit and mingle in these 
scenes of spiritual refreshing once and again, in the different 
places where he had so often gone forth weeping, bearing the 
precious seed, that he was forced to turn away, and spend 
some weeks at Yandalia, endeavoring to secure an act of in- 
corporation for the infant seminary. Nothing gives a truer 
index of his really spiritual and sanctified nature than the 
repugnance with which he entered upon the chilling inter- 
course with these worldlings., and exchanged the blessed 



OPPOSITION TO THE SEMINARY. 233 

scenes of revival for the turmoil and vexation of political 
associations. In this legislature he had many worthy friends, 
and the incorporating act was readily enough carried through 
the lower house. In the senate, however, was one anti- 
mission Baptist minister, who seemed to feel a malevolent 
delight in leaving no stone unturned to foil his endeavor. So 
nearly was this body balanced, and so easy was it for this 
captious, unscrupulous hater of that which was good to barter 
away his conscience, his principles, and his manliness, so as 
to bend a few of his associates to do his bidding in this matter, 
that the act failed of a passage by his casting vote. This 
w^as enough, surely, to vex a more phlegmatic temperament ; 
but it is delightful to see how Divine grace enabled our 
brother to triumph even here. He breathes no maledictions, 
but prays for his opponent, and hopes God will yet open his 
eyes to see the evil of his course. 



234 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Establishment of a Religious Newspaper in the West — Mission- l| 
ary Labors and Successes — Revivals and Candidates for the 
Ministry Among their Fruits — Emigrant's Guide— First Visit of 
Dr. Going to the West. 

Leaving for a while the pragress of the seminary, which 
Mr. Peck had successfully gotten under way, we shall next 
find him very earnestly engaged in the establishment and 
actual conducting both as editor and publisher of the first 
religious newspaper in that wide region where so many have 
since flourished. As this was a very important movement, 
and moreover as at the time and subsequently serious doubts 
of the wisdom of this procedure were entertained among his 
friends, it may be well to trace with some care the idea of 
originating such a paper to its first inception. Though some 
overtures had been made to him several years before by Duflf 
Green, Esq., then residing in St. Louis, to occupy a portion 
of the columns of the political paper he was there conducting, 
of which to a very limited extent Mr. Peck availed himself, 
nothing farther in this direction appears to have engaged his 
mind till near the close of the year 1827, when a distinct 
overture was made to him on this subject from New England. 
A Baptist brother, now laid aside from the active duties of 
the ministry by failure of his voice, had his mind turned to 
the importance of using the religious periodical press for the 
purpose of counteracting infidelity, Romanism, and various 
forms of error which were spreading with frightful rapidity in 
the West. 

This brother was now residing in the vicinity of Boston, 
where the Christian Watchman, the earliest of Baptist news- 
papers, had for ten years been augmenting and difl'using its 
benign influence ; and no wonder that his mind eagerly seized 
on the idea of inducing Mr. Peck, among his other means of 



FIRST ^YESTERN RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER. 235 

usefulness, to undertake the establishment of such a paper. 
He was written to on the subject, and the distinct proffer of 
funds to a considerable extent was made to him, to enable 
him to secure so important an object. His own mind, ever 
eager, enterprising, and almost too grasping in its conceptions 
of the possibilities of success, was ready at once to entertain 
the idea, and he began casting around him for the means of 
carrying it into effect. Among his acquaintances at this period 
there w^as one individual, Rev. Thomas P. Green, resident on 
the borders of Missouri and Illinois, who had been educating 
his sons as practical printers, and who had himself attained 
some little experience in conducting a weekly journal of very 
limited circulation. The idea at once suggested itself that 
this man might be induced to remove to St. Louis or to Kock 
Spring, bring his printing office along with him, and might be 
made useful in preaching, partty editing and taking the general 
oversight of the business transactions of the proposed paper, 
while himself would give so much time to writing and select- 
ing matter for it, as would multiply his own efficiency, giving a 
wider extent and more of ubiquitous presence and influence 
to what he might thus communicate over the vast region 
where, with much toil and exposure, he had traveled and 
preached at comparatively remote periods, for so many years. 
Very naturally we may see how welcome would be such a 
proposition to his mind. He was, by this time, somewhat 
wearied with the futile endeavor of keeping things in good order 
through the two or three large States over which his duties 
of supervision, and the various kinds of evangelizing labors 
confided to him, had extended. When by personal inter- 
course with his brethren he had measurably removed their 
prejudices, and partially imbued them with his own spirit, and 
induced their seeming co-operation with him in some of his 
Important missionary or other plans of doing religious good, 
he would be surprised and mortified to find that before he could 
again visit them, his opponents would upset his plans and 
frustrate his begun labors, so that his work, would have to 
be begun over again with increased embarrassment. In the 



236 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

absence of any well-conducted periodical publications, pam- 
phlets — some of them sufficiently low, scurrilous and de- 
moralizing to do immense harm — were circulating to a con- 
siderable extent, without any facilities for warning the public 
against their untruthfulness and perverse tendencies. He 
saw, too, the advance which had been made in the Atlantic 
States, where papers were beginning to be widely circulated, 
and attributing too much of this effect very likely to this one 
cause, he the more impatiently desired the same aids, where, 
from the nature of the case, their availability would be less. 

On the other side of the balance sheet, there were also 
weighty reasons to dissuade from any such attempts. In the 
first place, the inadequacy of means. By all his fervent 
appeals for supplying the wants of the mighty West, the 
help requisite for sustaining or half sustaining half a dozen 
missionaries in half as many States, could* scarcely be relied 
on ; and some years it had fallen off to a sad extent. It was 
obvious to every considerate mind that besides what the dis- 
abled clerical brother had offered to furnish him, quite as much 
more would be indispensable, even to establish such a paper, 
and then its current receipts for a year or two would not 
equal its current expenses. Next, it was reasonably enough 
urged, " How can one man, even with hands of Briareus, and 
eyes of Argus, attempt so many distinct kinds of labor, with- 
out the danger of embarrassing or ruining all of them ?" 
The argumentum ad hominem was here plied most vigorously 
against this new proposition. " Why does this man, who is 
crying out under the 'burdens he now has on his shoulders, 
seek to accumulate more and heavier still ; the result of which 
will be either to withdraw his needed support from enterprises 
which even now languish and fall into discouragement for want 
of his more steady supervision, or to make what he now pro- 
poses abortive, by his inadequate time and vigor to give it 
vitality ?" Even his tried and long-confiding friends, the 
executive officers of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary 
Society, could not but urge him to desist ; and some of their 
letters, after their earlier hints and suggestions had proved un- 



EEASONS FOR AND AGAINST A PAPER. 23t 

availing to arrest his course, seemed to him at the time, as they 
now do on the calm review, very stringent, and almost severe 
in the demand they made on him to abandon this new and 
costly, and, as it seemed to the writers, impracticable and un- 
wise enterprise. They remind him that his first endeavor, 
the establishing of a Baptist church in St. Louis, had become 
very near a failure, and its church-edifice was about to be 
sold, after so many appeals had been made to free it from 
debt. Did he want, on that same spot, to lay another founda- 
tion, and not being able to build, to excite the mockery of 
beholders by another spectacle of miscalculation ? 

And finally, these opposers ventured to suggest to him that 
the time for the success of such an enterprise had not yet 
come. The people of those new States and Territories were 
most of them very recent settlers, having as yet almost every 
thing necessary for their existence to secure, and they would 
not now be likely to patronize such a paper. They had little 
time to read it, little means to pay for it, and, if possible, less 
disposition to encourage the effort, for the sake of what good 
it might do for others. Thirty years ago those removing into 
the wilderness, even from the Eastern and Middle States, and 
muc^ less those from other quarters, had not been so accus- 
tomed to the weekly visits of a religious newspaper as to miss 
it, and sigh for it again. Doubtless it would be needed here- 
after ; but they argued with much plausibility, certainly, that 
the time had not yet come. Could they have clearly foreseen 
the future working of this paper, under the editorship of our 
worthy and self-sacrificing brother, they would have urged 
another reason, not less potent than these above adduced by 
them, viz. : that his identification with it, as chief manager, 
would fill to overflowing the bitter cup of suspicion and 
jealousy of himself personally, which already he had tasted 
of repeatedly. Men older than himself, who in this and other 
countries had been wont to find themselves looked up to as 
wise and capable, must have found it somewhat humiliating 
to their self-esteem that this young New Englander managed 
their missionary, their educational, their Bible and Sunday- 



238 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

school affairs, and now sought to vault into the editorial chair 
also, and thus form public opinion to suit himself, while they 
all were obliged to follow in his train. From this cause, as 
the sequel showed, he suffered more grief, inconvenience, and 
the peril of alienation from choice friends than from almost 
all other infelicities combined. 

It should occasion no surprise that the above weighty 
objections held back the establishment of the paper for more 
than a year. True, there were make-weights on the favorable 
side. While some of his most valued correspondents dis- 
suaded, as above shown, others with scarcely less ardor 
advocated the measure. Among this latter class was the 
Hon. Nicholas Brown, of Providence, R. I., who wrote him 
frequently, and with a steadiness and zeal characteristic of 
that great and good man. He was accustomed to back up his 
encouraging words of counsel by acts of liberality, and hints 
and provocatives of various kinds made to bear efficiently in 
favor of the evangelizing work in different quarters wherever 
he learned that these helps were most necessary. This very 
wise and far-seeing man, though he never personally visited 
the West, had formed a more accurate idea of its ultimate 
and not very remote relative importance than hundred^ who 
had traveled widely, seen much, but thought less on this vast 
problem of our whole country's improvement than himself. He 
pursued one method which had commended itself to his judg-- 
ment for interesting those whose co-operation seemed to him 
desirable in certain efforts, by making them the almoners of 
his bounty. It was not unusual for him, quite unsolicited, to 
drop the hint in correspondence or in conversation with some 
one in whom he thought it safe to confide. ''Will you look 
into such or such a case, and if you think it practicable I 
authorize you to draw on me for one or two hundred dollars to 
promote it." It seemed to the individuals addressed that 
Mr. Brown was only saving himself care, and labor, and time, 
by using them for his mere convenience to examine such 
cases, whereas the real point aimed at was to induce them to 
inquire and investigate for the sake of interesting their own 



THE PIONEER ESTABLISHED. 239 

minds more deeply in what he was satisfied was a worthy- 
object and needed their co-operation for its successful prose- 
cution. Probably in this very case he won over the influence 
of several to aid this plan of a religious paper in the West, 
who otherwise might have stood aloof, by the judicious divi- 
sion through them of timely aid, which would have been less 
efficient if given in the lump, and more directly from his owp 
hand. 

After considerable delay, and with enough misgivings on 
the part of many friends to awaken the deepest solicitude in 
reference to its success, near the close of the year 1828 an en- 
gagement was entered into between the Rev. T. P. Green on 
the one side, and Mr. Peck on the other, for issuing the pro- 
posed religious paper. For economy's sake, and to make it 
more convenient for Mr. Peck to conduct it, they had determ- 
ined that it should be issued from Rock Spring instead of 
St. Louis — a great mistake, certainly, so far as the success 
of the paper was concerned. One-half the funds were fur- 
nished by Eastern friends, and Mr. Peck was to be its editor, 
while the other half was to be put into the concern by Mr. 
Green, who was to superintend the printing and publication, 
and for this purpose removed to Rock Spring with his family, 
some of whom would attend the school. The Eastern donors 
had stipulated that the share of profits from the printing- 
establishment and the subscriptions to the paper over and 
above paying current expenses, which their donation would 
be entitled to claim, should be given to the seminary. But 
alas for the profits! 

The prospectus was issued about the middle of December, 
1828, and the 25th of the following April the first number of 
the paper, called the Pioneer, appeared. The remark was 
currently made that " it looked well, and it was hoped that it 
might succeed and do much good." The bona fide subscribers 
were very few, but then and long afterward it was sent to 
many whom it was hoped to induce to become its efficient 
patrons, but who would pay for it or not as suited their con- 



240 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

venience. Rather a precarious reliance, surely, for sustaining 
printers and paper-makers. 

In the meantime revivals were appearing to cheer his heart 
and encourage the supporters of the mission. The details of 
these were exceedingly interesting at the time, but room can- 
not be given for their insertion. Summarily it may be stated : 

Churches in the Missouri Association aije under a reviving influ- 
ence, for this work is spreading through several churches— St. Louis, 
Bonhomme, Good Hope, and others. At Rock Spring there was 
considerable religious excitement, especially among the students, 
and the seminary was rising in public esteem. 

Arrangements were now making to establish a depository at 
Edwardsville of the Baptist General Tract Society. As a traveling 
missionary I have been employed at those points where it appeared 
that most good could be done to promote the general cause, and so 
far as I can judge from the excitement of the public mind with 
better success than at any former period. 

As the fruits of these revivals, several promising candidates 
for the Christian ministry were brought into the churches ; 
and the pleadings of Mr. Peck for aid in sustaining those who 
were indigent in a shorter or longer course of studies, to 
increase their usefulness, were heart-moving. 

We have thus seen the inception of the various interlinked 
and co-operative plans of evangelization, progressively set on 
foot by Mr. Peck and his coadjutors in the vast field of their 
toil and care for the first dozen years of his residence in it. 
First, preaching the gospel and establishing churches ; next, 
promoting the wide and general diffusion of the Word of God ; 
then following up these by Sunday-schools to teach children 
and adults to some extent to read and appreciate the Scrip- 
tures ; then, finally, the seminary to prepare teachers for 
common schools and aid the ministers of the gospel in their 
preparation for higher usefulness ; with the religious news- 
paper to diffuse more equally, and sustain more constantly, 
and quicken more energetically, and defend resolutely and 
wisely, all these means of usefulness. Look at him now, as 
seated in the center of all this diversified plan of operations, 



MR. peck's labors EXTENDED. 241 

watching with deepest Bolicitude the working of every part, 
endeavoring to impart strength to what was feeble, a far- 
seeing wisdom to what was short-sighted, and the vigor and 
purity of holy love to what was constantly in danger of de- 
generating into formalism and partyisra for the want of it. 
The years 1829 and 1830, while furnishing little of marked 
and noticeable peculiarity, were characterized by a steady 
persistence in the wide round of accustomed duties, evincing 
variety in the midst of uniformity, and calling for sleepless 
vigilance on his part to preserve the harmonious action of all 
the agencies called into operation for the promotion of the 
common cause. Soon as he could be freed from daily service 
in the management of or instruction in the seminary, he set 
forth again in those monthly or quarterly preaching tours 
throughout Missouri, with Central and Southern Illinois, and 
occasional extensions into Western Indiana, where though 
the ostensible object was to meet a line of appointments for 
churches and congregations almost every day of the week, 
yet he did incidentally make these tours promotive of all the 
other parts of the evangelizing process. He watched over 
and infused vigor and steadiness into Sunday-schools and 
Bible societies, looked out students for the seminary and sub- 
scribers for the Pioneer, while in his private intercourse he 
was assiduously striving to weed out petty jealousies and 
misconceptions among ministers and private brethren, and 
elevate the aims and efforts of all to a worthier appreciation 
of the dignity and blessedness of laboring and making sacri- 
fices for the cause of the lledeemer and the best welfare of 
souls. 

While thus employed, towards the close of 1829 he received, 
unsolicited on his part, a pressing request to engage for a 
portion of his time in the service of the American Bible 
Society, then very earnestly endeavoring to supply every 
family accessible with a copy of the Scriptures. What the 
society asked of him was to superintend this work and select 
and recommend for appointment suitable agents to canvass 
the States of . Illinois and Indiana, so as to see to it that 
21 % 



242 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

this great work was faithfully, promptly, and economically 
performed. Of course he could not decline such a service, 
and he gave to it considerable of his time for that and the 
early part of the following year. Copies of the monthly 
reports which he made to the Secretary from December, 1829, 
to May, 1830, are among his correspondence, and they evince 
his usual vigor and fidelity. Before this work was completed 
he was again obliged to take the superintendence of the 
instruction and government of the Rock Spring Seminary, 
and of course resigned the Bible agency. 

Nor were his labors by any means confined to these depart- 
ments. By his travels and what he had published in the 
various periodicals in the Eastern and Middle States, the 
attention of great numbers had been turned to him as more 
competent than any one else to answer their inquiries ; and 
the large bundles of letters addressed to him by all sorts of 
persons for all the various purposes which can be conceived, 
begging him to answer them very fully and promptly, would 
have required most men to employ a private secretary con- 
stantly to give the desired information. As a very large part 
of this was of a merely secular character, designed to settle 
the doubts and facilitate the emigration of those revolving 
the question of a removal to the great West, the idea natu- 
rally enough suggested itself to his mind that a printed 
manual for the answer of such inquiries would be fuller and 
more satisfactory than he could afford to make each letter 
answering the questions put to him. This idea originated 
his " Guide for Emigrants," which was enlarged in its exe- 
cution to a good-sized volume, and was very popular and 
useful. In preparing it, along with his labor as principal of 
the seminary, editor of the Pioneer, and all the other duties 
of correspondence and domestic care, he was frequently 
obliged to spend, week after week, sixteen hours a day 
either teaching in the seminary or writing at his desk. No 
wonder that this extra labor broke him down. Dyspepsia, 
instead of being occasional, became chronic, and before the 



MR. PECK ENCOURAGED — DR. GOING. 243 

end of th^ session in 1831 he was obliged to dismiss the 
school and seek relief from this exhausting toil. 

Some of the correspondence of this period, however, was 
of a character greatly to cheer and encourage his heart. Of 
this description was that commenced with him by the Mis- 
sionary Society of Hamilton Theological Institution, New 
York. Several of the most promising young men of that 
school of the prophets early caught from his circulars and 
appeals the spirit of emulous desire to devote themselves to 
the great valley of the West. They wrote to him, both ofB- 
cially and individually ; and such letters as those of H. C. 
Skinner, Moses Field, and J. L. Moore, students or recent 
graduates, who were in heart devoted to that field, and were 
each month and week becoming a quickening leaven to vital- 
ize those with whom they came in contact with the same 
spirit, are refreshing to read even now. What must they 
have proved to Mr. Peck himself but as cold water to the 

thirsty ! 

At just this period also, and as one result of the labors he 
was performing and his loud cries for help, the hearts of his 
Eastern brethren were beginning to warm towards him and 
his great enterprise in a degree before unprecedented. He 
had been for ten or more years the missionary, or superin- 
tending agent for missionaries, for the Baptist Missionary 
Society of Massachusetts, and as his reports became more 
and more cheering, and were widely perused there, and in all 
the Middle and Eastern States, the conviction was strength- 
ening that Baptists had a work to do in the West, which 
really required an organized and efficient society for its prose- 
Qution more commensurate with its magnitude than any single 
State. Dr. Jonathan Going of Worcester, Mass., who had 
been intimately associated with Mr. Peck when the latter 
visited the East m 1826, and who for the next five or six 
years had kept up a deeply-interesting correspondence with 
him on the best ways and means of arousing the evangelized 
portions of our whole country to care efficiently and ade- 
quately for the condition of the destitute, was this year 



244 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

deputed to visit him on his field of labor,- and bjr extensive 
personal intercourse with him and all others similarly eu' 
gaged, to devise the best means for promoting home missions. 

The following very simple item occurs in our brother's 
diary under date of June 20th, 1831 : '' To-day Elder J. Going, 
of Massachusetts, sent out to explore the condition of the 
Baptists in the West, arrived at my house." 

Very earnestly did these men of kindred spirit, worthy to 
be reckoned " true yoke-fellows," devote themselves for the 
next three months to canvassing the mighty problem : '' How 
can the great work of home-evangelization be most efficiently 
promoted ?" They traveled together by day and by night, 
in sunshine and in storm, through large portions of Illinois, 
Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky. They conferred with all 
the more intelligent and pious ministers and laymen ; at- 
tended associations, churches, camp-meetings, and all other 
gatherings of Baptists, as far as practicable ; inquired and 
consulted, w^ept and prayed and rejoiced together ; and, 
finally, just before they parted in September following, at 
Shelby ville, Ky., there occurs the following note in Mr. Peck's 
journal : " Here we agreed on the plan of the American 
Baptist Home Mission Society." The next morning he 
records : '' I parted with Elder Going to proceed homeward." 
The journal of all this period of the intercourse of these great 
and good men extends to thirty quarto pages of manuscript. 
But it is more brief and condensed than usual, plainly indi- 
cating how much their minds were absorbed by the great and 
morally sublime theme which they were now canvassing ; and 
how much more they thought, and inquired, and weighed the 
difficulties and capabilities of the proposed organization than 
were they disposed to give written expression and permanent 
record to their plans. Nor did they confine themselves to 
plans for the future, but indefatigably labored, preached, ex- 
horted, instructed inquirers, promoted revivals, and in all 
practicable ways sought the present benefit of the cause. 

The very next day after these brethren parted, and per- 
adventure in part at least in that spirit of sadness which the 



MR. peck's self-examination. 245 

loss of such companionship not rarely induces, occurs the 
following private entry in the diary of Mr. Peck : '' I traveled 
all day, calling only at taverns for refreshment, and reached 
a Mr. Osborne's — a Quaker family — four miles west of Paoli. 
My mind is exceedingly wrong on the subject of religion. 
Vain, wicked, and foolish thoughts possess me." After much 
more of the same character, he devoutly prays : " Lord, 
revive me, sanctify me wholly, and cause me to be entirely 
devoted to thee." 

In his earlier years such humiliating confessions abound in 
his journals, and many pages might be filled with their 
transcript. But they are less and less seen in all the later 
portions ; and here they are, in part — at least much more 
than he was aware — the effect of external causes. For 
months he had enjoyed the cheering companionship of one of 
the best and most genial Christian associates. After long, 
anxious, and intensely prayerful deliberation, they had care- 
fully reached and matured the most feasible plan which they 
could devise, and having given to it the last finishing revision, 
and parted company, no marvel that the tensity of mind sud- 
denly relaxing, accompanied as it was by his utter loneliness 
and listlessness, brought on a mental revulsion, which his 
morbid sensitiveness records in the above self-condemnatory 
language. Thus it is physically as well as mentally. The 
best and wisest physicians, after long experience,, do not trust 
their ability to prescribe for themselves, because of the dis- 
turbing influence of disease on their discernment, and on the 
equableness of their judgment. 

Not many days passed before he acknowledges an entire 
change in all his spiritual convictions. He is as fully imbued 
with holy zeal and engagedness, and evinces as deep a con- 
cern for the glory of his Saviour, and the welfare of perishing 
souls as ever before ; and Gox^ is graciously blessing his labors 
for the conversion of the perishing. Such alternations froni 
depth to height are characteristic of many, and he who learns 
to make the proper abatement from both extremes has gained 
one important point in the rare attainment of self-inspection. 



246 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XXL 

The Black Hawk War, its Origin, Battles and Termination — Revivals 
— Opposition — State Organizations for Evangelization — Gazetteer 
of Illinois. 

About this period also, that is through the summer of 1831, 
and 1832, wherever his preaching excursions led him, in 
Central and Northern Illinois especially, Mr. Peck found the 
public mind much agitated by fears of Indian aggressions, 
and still more by the efforts set on foot and prosecuted with 
considerable vigor, for the extermination of these poor miser- 
able remains of the aboriginal tribes. He does not seem to 
have entered into the spirit of these measures as did many of 
his brethren ; but their engrossment with these matters very 
much hindered his religious efforts for the spiritual welfare of 
these new settlements, and the subject in this aspect finds fre- 
quent mention in his journals and correspondence. 

To make some of these notices intelligible it may be re- 
quisite to give, in his own words, a brief outline of what was 
popularly known as the Black Hawk war. A condensed 
statement only, will be hecessary, and this as far as possible 
shall be given in his own language. 

Black Hawk never was a chief, never was recognized as such either 
by Indian authority or by the United States. He was a brave, in the 
Indian designation, of the Sauk tribe, first heard of in the closing 
scenes of the war of 1812-15, who was able to gather around him a 
small party of disaffected spirits ; refused to attend the negotiations 
of 1816 ; went to Canada, proclaimed himself and his party British 
subjects, and received presents from that quarter. When, about the 
year 1828, Keokuk was appointed chief of the Sauk nation, and in 
accordance with treaties made with the United States, proclamation 
was made that the Indians were now bound by their treaty engage- 
ments to leave the country east of the Mississippi, and when a 
portion of the tribe, under their regular chiefs, with Keokuk at 



THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 24T 

their head, actually retired across the Mississippi, Black Hawk 
refused to acknowledge this authority, and gathering around him 
all the restless spirits he could muster, he set himself up as a 
chief in opposition to Keokuk. Up to this time he continued his 
annual visits to Maiden, in Canada, and received his annuity for 
allegiance to the British government. Though he had not the 
talent or influence of a Tecumseh to form any general and com- 
prehensive scheme of action, yet he did make an abortive attempt 
to unite all the Indians of the West, from Rock river to Mexico, 
in a war against the United States. For this purpose he acknowl- 
edges he sent runners to the Arkansas, to Red river, and to Texas, 
on a secret mission. 

The Indians in the spring of 1831, under the guidance of Black 
Hawk, committed depredations on the frontier settlements. This 
leader was a cunning, shrewd Indian, and trained his party to com- 
mit various depredations on the property of the frontier inhabi- 
tants, but not to attack or kill any person. His policy was to 
provoke the Americans to make war on him, that he might seem 
to be fighting in defence of Indian rights and the graves of their 
fathers. Black Hawk had about five hundred Indians in training, 
with horses, well-provided with arms, and came into the State of 
Illinois with hostile designs. Consequently the Governor, on the 
28th of May, 1831, issued a call for volunteers. The militia to 
the number of twelve hundred or more turned out, and under th^ 
command of General Joseph Duncan, proceeded on horseback to 
Rock river, while a detachment of regular troops went up the 
Mississippi river in June. Black Hav/k and his men, alarmed by 
this prompt and formidable array against them, recrossed the 
Mississippi, sent a white flag, and made a treaty with the United 
States, in which the latter agreed to furnish the Indians a large 
amount of corn and other necessaries, on condition of their strict 
compHance with the treaty stipulations. 

In open violation of these treaties, Black Hawk with his party, 
in the spring of 1832, again crossed the Mississippi, though warned 
by the commandant of« the United States fort at Rock Island not 
to do so. Troops, both regular and militia, were at once mustered 
and sent in pursuit. Among these was a party of volunteers under 
the command of Major Stillman, who, on the 14th of May, was 
out on a tour of observation, and close in the neighborhood of the 
savages. On that evening, having discovered a party of the Indians, 
the whites galloped forward to attack the savage band, but were 



248 MEMOm OF JOHN M. PECK. 

met with so much energy and determination as to retreat in the 
utmost consternation. The whites were one hundred and seventy- 
five in number, the Indians were estimated at five or six hundred. 
Eleven whites were killed and shockingly mangled, and many 
wounded. This skirmish occurred at Stillman's run in Ogle county, 
some twenty-five miles above Dixon. 

On the 21st of May a party of Indian warriors, about seventy in 
number, attacked the Indian Creek settlement in La Salle county, 
killed fifteen persons, and took two young women prisoners. The 
following day a scouting party was attacked and four of them slain. 
Other massacres soon followed. Yery soon three thousand of the 
Illinois militia were ordered out, who rendezvoused by the 20th of 
June near Peoria. They marched forward to the Rock river, and 
were there joined by the United States troops, the whole being 
under the command of General Atkinson. On the 24th of June, 
two hundred Indian warriors led by Black Hawk himself, were re- 
pulsed by Major Demint, with but one hundred and fifty militia, 
between Rock river and Galena. The Indians were understood to 
be collected near the head of Rock river, and toward that locality 
the American army now moved. A detachment under the com- 
mand of General Henry, on the 21st of July, engaged the Indians 
near the Blue Mounds, on the "Wisconsin river, where, after re- 
peated but fruitless efforts on the part of the savages to break the 
lines of the Americans, they had to submit to defeat, and fled, 
leaving fifty or more dead on the field. The loss of the whites was 
trifling. Black Hawk, with his now dispirited followers, fled west- 
ward toward the Mississippi. Upon the bank of that river, near 
the Upper Iowa, the Indians were overtaken and again defeated 
on the 2d of August, with the loss of one hundred and fifty men, 
while of the whites but eighteen fell. This battle entirely broke 
the power of Black Hawk. He precipitately fled, but was seized 
by the Winnebagoes, and on the 27th of August was delivered to 
the United States officers at Prairie du Chien. The following 
month the Indian troubles were closed by a treaty which relin- 
quished on the part of the red men more than thirty millions of 
acres, embracing what is now the eastern portion of the State of 
Iowa — for which adequate annuities were paid the Indians. Black 
Hawk and his family were sent as hostages to Fortress Monroe, 
where he remained till June, 1833, when he was allowed to return 
to his native wilds where he subsequently died. He cannot be 
ranked with the greatest Indian warriors, since he fought only for 



VIEWS AND FEELINGS OF MR. PECK. 249 

revenge ; he showed no great intellectual power, but proved him- 
self a fearless man, and for many months spread consternation 
through the scattered settlements of Illinois. 

Yery frequently were Mr. Peck's appointmeiits, even on 
the Sabbath, broken up by the military /wror which pervaded 
the minds of the community. Some of his Christian brethren 
also, according to the accounts preserved in his journal, became 
brutalized by the war spirit w^hich this ferocious struggle too 
naturally promoted. Little as Mr. Peck sympathized with 
the peace party or the non-resistants at any period of his life, 
he yet bore his decided testimony, in all proper ways, against 
the unchristian spirit too frequently evinced even among those 
of the professed household faith, who with unmixed hate de- 
clared their settled purpose to shoot down the poor miserable 
red-skins wherever they might find them, as unscrupulously 
as they would shoot the wolves which prowled around their 
dwellings. Our brother's spirit on these occasions was kindred 
to that of Robinson, pastor of the Puritan church which first 
came to Plymouth Rock, who on hearing from the pilgrims that 
they had fought with and killed several Indians, piously re- 
sponded, " Would to God that you had converted some before 
you killed any !" Not unlikely the fact that Mr. Peck had 
originally been sent to the West with special reference to the 
work of missions among the Indians, and that subsequently 
he had been directed, on the breaking up of the Mission of 
the Triennial Convention at St. Louis, to join with McCoy 
in his labors among the aborigines, though he had never 
been able to do this, may have wrought a feeling of greater 
tenderness in his heart toward these rude sons of nature. 

It is pleasant to turn from this episode and find our 
brother's heart greatly engaged in the work of the Lord, as 
he went his rounds preaching and baptizing in the several 
churches. Precious revivals began to be more frequent in 
vari-ous parts of his circuit. He seems to have proclaimed the 
gospel with great unction, and with manifest tokens of the 
Divine approval, throughout the months and years now pass- 
ing under review. And though there were some drawbacks of 



250 MEMOIE OF JOHN M. PECK. 

various kinds — sometimes by the prevalence of Campbellism, 
which he was learning to dread from the experienced ill effects 
of many of its advocates, whose course he narrowly scrutin- 
ized, and partly from the over-zealous and unscriptural 
course of some of his own associates, as well as from the 
anti-mission, anti-evangelizing spirit of the party still doing 
so much around him to keep out the light of Scripture diffu- 
sion, Sunday-school influences, and preaching the gospel to 
sinners — still there was joy in his heart and joy in his 
countenance, and joy giving renewed vigor to his often 
wearied frame, when souls by scores were found crying out 
what shall we do to be saved, and on welcoming the answer 
which he gave them, to press their way into the kingdom of 
God. Frequently on these joyous occasions, when he baptized 
by the half score at a time, he preserves in his diary the names 
of those who there put on Christ by his hand. And it is 
instructive to mark the number of notices, appended at a 
much later period, of the course which these subsequently 
run. Some fell away and baffled his hopes ; others were 
misled, as he thought, to join with other denominations; 
while of the far larger part, the testimonies are, "they have 
worn well, they became pillars in the church;" or, "they 
early died, giving good evidence that their end was peace." 

In such work, as well as in his widely extended correspon- 
dence, and in the publications which he chiefly edited, and 
for which, including his Weekly Pioneer, a religious paper of 
catholic character, and a monthly journal more decidedly 
Baptist, and another monthly half-sheet devoted to the 
advocacy of Sunday-schools, he wrote a great deal — his 
useful days and nights were more busy, and on the whole 
more happily spent. 

In the meantime it had become evident that the Rock 
Spring Seminary, for which he had made and called forth so 
generous offerings, was no*^ in the right situation to secure 
the' extensive patronage, and to concentrate on it the uni- 
versal favor which he and its other founders and friends 
desired. True it had done much good — had more than re- 



SEMINARY REMOVED TO ALTON. 25 J 

deemed what he had promised for it : but it had been begun 
and conducted, as well as was located, on too low and inade- 
quate a scale, and could not there — so it was thought — do 
the important work which they desired to effect. While Dr. 
Going was with him they had conferred much on this matter, 
and had together reconnoitered the very spot in Upper Alton 
subsequently purchased as the site for a new and more im- 
posing institution. During the following year that eligible 
site was purchased, designed for both Illinois and Missouri, 
and therefort placed opposite to the junction of the Missouri 
and Mississippi rivers, and measures set on foot for erecting 
durable edifices, and the transfer of the school to that locality. 
In an extensive preaching and exploring tour through the 
counties of Fulton, McDonough, Hancock, and Warren, 111., 
which filled up the month of June, 1832, he had various ex- 
periences — some of them by no means cheering — occasioned in 
part by the war alarms, and the Sunday musters ; in which 
he complains that even professors of religion, class-leaders 
and preachers took a prominent part, very needlessly desecrat- 
ing the day of holy rest, as he thought ; and partly, too, from 
the evil influence of anti-mission habits and prejudices. Here 
is a specimen of some of those latter influences, which his 
journal records : 

Saturday, 9i7i June. Rode twelve miles to Crooked Creek church. 
This is a small body, most of the old members inveterately opposed 
to missions, and of the '' do-nothing" class. Brother Logan preached, 
and they attended to church business. Two candidates for baptism 
related their experience. A case of discipline came up, and a man 
was excluded. The business was managed in a bad way, much con- 
fusion and contradiction. The family where we stayed, by the 

name of N 1, live very miserably, while they have ample means 

of living better. They have large stock of hogs and cattle on the 
range, and grain, yet for bread they eat mouldy and almost rotten 
corn, ground in a hand-mill. Most of the people in this settlement 
seem miserable and stupidly ignorant. 

Lord's-day, 10^^.. After the people began to assemble, I addressed 
those in the cabin on Sunday-school instruction. Some of the men, 
members of the church, were out of doors, and kept on talking, 



252 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

scolding and making a mock of what I was saying, threatening and 
blustering. One professor of religion was heard to say that I 
ought to be shot while at prayer. A bitter, malignant, hostile spirit 
is manifested by this class of persons. This is the temper com- 
municated by a class of preachers here. About one hundred 
people, old and young, assembled, to whom I preached from Ezekiel 
xxxiii. 11. Some of the people kept on talking and laughing, en- 
couraged by professors. Lord, have mercy on them. Brother 
Logan exhorted : then we went to the water and baptized four young 
persons Poor things ! No one to instruct them. There is great 
need of a Sunday-school in this place, but I could find no one capa- 
ble of giving instruction who would take hold of the business. 
Some of the converts cannot read, and yet have none to teach 
them. 

In other cases it was his privilege to see and to aid in pro- 
moting a better state of things. 

Lord's-day, July 8th. Brother Bailey and M. Lenien preached 
in the daytime and I exhorted. At night we assembled again in 
the meeting-house, when I addressed them. At first many young 
men behaved very rudely, conversing in groups out of doors ; but 
before the meeting closed, we had a very solemn time ; many were 
deeply impressed. Fifteen or twenty came up for prayers under 
much distress. Professors began to be in earnest, and to agonize 
for sinners. There were many appearances of a revival. One 
additional candidate was received for baptism. I am in hopes the 
good work of the Lord has truly begun in this congregation. 

Monday, 9^/i. Returned home and spent the week in answering 
letters, writing for the Pioneer, and other matters of business, all 
of which press upon me when at home. 

Such were the alternations and engrossments of weeks and 
months as now they bore him along their varied current. He 
seems at times at least to have been painfully impressed with 
the multiplicity of his engagements, and with the want of 
more spirituality of mind ; but for the most part with cheer- 
ful equanimity, he was striving to do that first which was of 
greatest importance ; or perhaps more accurately, to do that 
first which would involve most disaster if delayed. And as 
there was always on hand more than he could accomplish, 
there was no time for ennui or listlessness. 



ANNIVERSARIES AT VANDALIA. 253 

December, 1833, he records his visit to Yandalia, then the 
seat of government for Illinois, to attend several of those 
State organizations which he had been largely instrumental 
in originating ; and as his journal gives a candid statement 
of their actual condition at this time, it may be interesting to 
our readers to, look over a few pages of it, condensed as much 
as possible, but left to express in his own words his honest 
convictions : 

Monday, December 2d. I started for Yandalia, and tarried with 
Mr. Johnson at Hickory Grove. 

3d. Reached Yandalia, and at night attended the annual meeting 
of the Illinois State Bible Society. Not a single thing has been 
done the present year. It now appears that there was really no 
use in forming a State society while every county, except on the 
frontiers, had its own auxiliary. It was found on inquiry that this 
State society had on hand a large quantity of Bibles, for which 
they owe in good faith about nine hundred dollars, besides a large 
stock for which the society is to pay if able. On a subsequent day 
in the Board of Directors I introduced a series of resolutions and 
marked out a plan to relieve ourselves of this burden and dispose of 
these debts, which were adopted. The want of energy, system, and 
correctness in the Secretary and acting portion of the Board, is a 
serious impediment to operations of any kind. 

Wi. Most of the day was employed in finishing my report of the 
Illinois Sunday-school Union. On the evening the anniversary w&,s 
held in the State-house. A large assembly was present, and much 
interest excited. Several of the addresses were excellent. The 
Sunday-school cause has obtained a strong hold upon the affections 
and confidence of the people. With prudent and energetic manage- 
ment it must succeed. 

bth. Yery busy through the day in settling and arranging busi- 
ness with the Sunday-school agents present, and attending meet- 
ings of the Board, committees, etc. 

In the evening the anniversary of the Illinois State Temperance 
Society was held. Several addresses were delivered, and an im- 
pulse given to the cause. The policy of distributing temperance 
publications largely was adopted. 

6^7i. Still very closely engaged in the objects of the various be- 
nevolent institutions. The annual meeting of the Illinois Institute 
of Education was held to-day, and a committee appointed to ex- 
22 



254 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

amine the various documents in my possession, digest and prepare 
a summary publication, and then try to arouse the people to the 
subject, get up public meetings, have addresses made, and thus 
produce general action throughout the State. [He was ahnost of 
course the chairman of this committee.] In the evening the 
Colonization Society had a meeting and adjourned. 

"ith, Saturday. Busily engaged through the day in writing. The 
Colonization Society again met, chose ofi&cers, and entered upon 
business. A series of resolutions opposing anti-slavery societies 
and measures, and urging the colonization scheme as the only safe 
and effectual expedient to remove slavery, were introduced, and 
the discussion on them postponed till Monday. 

8ih, Lord's-day. In the morning attended the Sunday-school and 
addressed it on the subject of temperance. Placed in the library a 
copy of the Temperance Eecorder. Then I preached to a large 
and attentive congregation from 1 Thess. i. 5. 

In the evening I gave a lecture on the Burman Mission, which 
was heard with great interest, and the next day six dollars and a 
half were handed me by Presbyterians for that mission. 

9th, Monday. I was induced to stay on account of the adjourned 
colonization meeting to be held to-night. The day was occupied 
in writing many letters. Evening, the Colonization Society met 
and discussed the resolutions, in which I took part, proposing 
several amendments, which were*adopted. A committee was ap- 
pointed to digest a document of facts to be laid be/ore the public. 
Of this committee I am one. Thus I have an amount of business 
of various descriptions thrown upon my shoulders, which will, with 
my Sunday-school concerns, occupy me very closely the whole 
winter. 

10th and 11^^. Journeyed home and found all well. 

12th. Went to St. Louis, chiefly on Sunday-school business, and 
returning reached home at a late hour of an exceedingly dark 
night. 

14^/i, Saturday. Very busy in preparing the Sunday-school re- 
port for the press. 

15^/i, Lord's-day. Very sick with my usual infirmity, sick-head- 
ache, and unable to attend meeting which had been appointed 
for me. 

22d. Preached the funeral discourse for the late Governor Edwards 
in the court-house, Edwardsville. Not only was the house crowded, 
but a multitude were out of doors, the weather being pleasant. 
I took a passage from Ezekiel xix. 12 for a text : " Her strong rods 



DEATH OF JOHN CLARKE. 255 

were broken and withered," in which I portrayed the qualities of 
an eminent statesman. A call was made next day for the publica- 
tion of the discourse with a short memoir of his life and character, 
which will be complied with. 

23d and 24:th. Spent in Belleville, conversing widely as possible 
on common-school education, and trying to enlist leading persons 
in this subject. 

Sth, Saturday. For three days I have been closely occupied in 
arranging my correspondence and other papers, and in preparing 
articles for the Pioneer on education, temperance, and colonization. 
I have divers important letters to answer and much other business 
which will require my utmost efforts to perform. 

Lord's-day, 29th. Preached at Lebanon from the eighth chapter 
of Romans. Church business followed, and several cases of diffi- 
culty occurred. This church has lost considerable in order and 
piety within a few months. In the afternoon it rained severely, 
and I rode home in the storm. 

The above items furnish a pretty fair sample of the manner 
in which his time was filled up with urgent duties one day, 
and one week, and one month after another, for this, and 
preceding, and following years. 

The next February mention is made of the funeral of that 
veteran. Father John Clarke, of whom he says that '' he 
spent part of a day at James Lemon's looking over the manu- 
scripts left by Father Clark. The old man commenced writing 
his life at my suggestion, made considerable progress, but was 
never able to finish it. It was finally agreed that myself and 
James Lemen should write and publish his life in a bound 
volume. " This object was accomplished by our brother, but 
not till nearly twenty years afterward. He purposed doing 
the same for several friends, as Meacham, Bradley, and 
others ; and so frequently, and for so long a period were these 
things before him, and mentioned in his correspondence, that 
the idea was naturally entertained that he had made con- 
siderable progress in the preparation of materials for these 
memoirs. Such, however, does not appear to have been the 
case. They existed only in his teeming brain. 'Not a page 
of either was ever written. 



256 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

To the preparation of- a gazetteer of Illinois, however, with 
anew and much fuller and more accurate map than had before 
existed, he devoted no small share of the early portions of the 
year 1834. By the end of March he mentions having sold 
the first edition of this book to- a Mr. Gandy of Jacksonville. 

Under date of July 20th, of this year, occurs the following 
entry in his journal, showing nt how early a period his heart 
was greatly stirred in contemplating a work to which ten 
years later he gave some of the most important and labori- 
ous of his life-efforts : 

Yesterday I received a communication from I. M. Allen, general 
agent of the Baptist Tract Sijciety, urging me to engage as a super- 
intending agent for the valley of the Mississippi. This is the third 
communication made to me with that object in view. It proposes 
an extensive course of operation for the specific purpose of raising 
up the condition of the "Western Baptists, by addresses, forming 
plans and organizations for usefulness, circulating tracts and other 
valuable religious books, and endeavoring to bring the great body 
of the Baptists to act in harmony and efficiently. This would be, 
indeed, a Hfirculean enterprise, involving vast responsibility, re- 
quiring diversified abilities far beyond what I can ever hope to 
possess. Yet it is a work that must be done. Somebody must take 
hold of it. It must be commenced speedily, and followed perse- 
veringly. I have little reason to think that my circumstances and 
deficiencies would justify such an effort on my part, but I feel 
botmd to give the proposition a prayerful and respectful consider- 
ation. 

In August he took a somewhat extensive tour into Mis- 
souri, traveled and preached in company with his beloved 
Brother Yardeman whose house he visited and became for 
a little season his welcome guest. Together they attended a 
kind of convention of Baptists to take into consideration the 
destitution in that State, and contrive the best means for 
supplying it. Throughout the wide region where he now 
traveled in this State, and in considerable part over ground 
familiar to him in former preaching tours, he found the state 
of religion low indeed just at present, but giving unmis- 



FAILING HEALTH OF MR. PECK. 25Y 

takable evidences of progress. Anti-ism in its various forms 
was dying out ; more regard was felt for Sabbath -schools, 
missions, and even for the support of preaching in the several 
churches. Though in all these respects the progress had been 
slow, and the present state was far enough from satisfactory, 
yet, compared with what he had seen eight or ten years pre- 
vious, it was encouraging." 

Early in November following we find him, with several of 
his brethren in the ministry from his immediate neighborhood, 
attending a convention of Western Baptists in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Among other objects of importance there considered the 
Western Baptist Education Society was formed, and incip- 
ient steps, or at least counsels, taken for the theological 
institution afterwards established at Covington ; in all which, 
though his health was very poor, he took the deepest interest. 
Here he met with his endeared Brethren Going, Tell, Allen, 
and many others, with whom he took counsel on matters of 
paramount interest to himself and to the welfare of the 
Baptist cause. 

Under date of November 18th, 1834, the following minute 
occurs in his journal : 

Held consultation with several brethren from the East as to my 
future destiny and course. All gave as their decided opinion that 
I should go to the Atlantic States in the spring, spend the summer, 
and collect funds for Alton Seminary and for the Home Mission. 
Such a destination would require an entirely new arrangement of 
business and prospects. I desire to be submissive to the order 
of Divine Providence and enter the path of duty; yet such a 
mission will be on my part a matter of much self-denial, and a 
most arduous and responsible undertaking. 

The following month he was again found, as the preceding 
year, attending the State anniversaries at Yandalia. The 
Sunday-school cause especially seems to have progressed 
finely ,^and generally the educational interests were advancing. 
Subsequently in St. Louis and at Alton, in company with his 
early assistant. Rev. James E. Welch, they made some humili- 
ating discoveries in regard to the unworthy conduct of a man 



258 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

employed at a generous salary by the American Sunday- 
school Union to keep their depository. Farming out this 
service for one-half the sum paid to him for its performance, 
the other half enabled him to prosecute a sectarian purpose 
of his own, in direct contravention of the principles of the 
Union, whose commission he thus dishonored. Our brother's 
reflections on this mean trickery indicate how sensitive his 
mind was to every perversion of the noble catholicity of 
union societies whose very existence depends on the irre- 
proachable fidelity of those interested with their agency. 

Yery poor health nearly prostrated him during the greater 
part of this winter. He particularly notices his utter inability 
to endure exposure to the cold as in former years ; and during 
the severer portions of the season he represents himself as 
only able to hover over a large fire, and strive to keep his torpid 
liver from an entire cessation of action by vigorous restora- 
tives. The affairs of the seminary (a charter of it as a college 
was about this time obtained) caused him very frequent visits 
to its locality at Upper Alton. To secure in an economical 
and efficient manner the requisite buildings, to harmonize 
teachers young and old from New England and from Old 
England, as well as some raised up on the ground, to watch 
over and procure in tolerable season the scanty finances de- 
rived chiefly from small subscriptions, and to give as much 
efficiency and reputation as possible to the young and unen- 
dowed institution, required of him, with all his other cares 
and toils, much more of effort than he was really able to put 
forth. At this time, too, he seems to have contemplated a 
removal of his family, his paper and printing-press to Alton 
as soon as he could advantageously dispose of his farm at 
Rock Spring. He even went so far as to purchase eligible 
lots on which to erect a comfortable dwelling for his family 
in the vicinity of the college campus ; but for some cause the 
transfer of residence was never made. 

In the early meetings of the trustees of the incorporated 
college, the question primarily claimed their attention, How 
should funds be secured for the erection of ampler edifices, 



ENDOWMENT OF ALTON SEMINARY. 259 

and for the permanent endowment of at least some of the 
professorships ? After much and earnest discussion of this 
exigent demand, in every form in which any practicable hope 
of success seemed to present itself, the conclusion was finally 
reached that a sum not less than twenty-five thousand dollars 
must be raised for these important purposes. Two agents 
were appointed to solicit aid : one in the West, who might 
raise — so they hoped — one-fifth of this sum, while our care- 
w^orn and almost skeleton-looking brother was commissioned 
to go to the East, with the forlorn hope of getting the other 
four-fifths of this sum from that quarter. 

Soon as this plan was definitely decided on, and he had 
accepted the commission for this purpose, he immediately 
arranged all his affairs with reference to it. He resigned the 
office of Sunday-school superintendent and active manager in 
that and other Boards, finished up so far as practicable his 
correspondence and some special communications for his paper 
which the exigencies of the times called for, and in all respects 
endeavored to put his affairs in the best order practicable to 
be loft, whether he should live to return or not. 

)ng these last services may be reckoned a special com- 
munication which he mentions having prepared with extra 
carefulness to expose the pretensions of Mormonism, w^hich 
just now was making some inroads among the ignorant and 
vacillating in several parts of the State and in some neighbor- 
hoods in his own vicinity. His expose of that bold delusion 
was in several cases eminently successful. So was probably 
a similar article, which just about this time he sent forth, 
exposing the efforts of foreign priests to promote the Komish 
religion. 



260 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Second Visit to the Eastern States — Triennial Convention at Rich- 
mond, Va. — New York Anniversaries — General Operations in 
Behalf of the College at Alton — Success and Return to Illinois. 

Saturday, April 11th, 1835, Mr. Peck left home, and after spending 
the Sabbath in St. Louis, where he gave the white Baptist church a 
brief review of the state of things when he first came there seven- 
teen years and a half before ; and then preached to the African 
Baptist church a kind of farewell discourse, and they by their own 
arrangement made him a free-will offering of thirty dollars to aid 
him on his way, though most of them he says were slaves. The 
next morning, in company with an unusual number of ministers and 
other professors of religion who had insisted on the boat's not 
leaving port on Saturday evening, he went on board the steamer 
Potosi, and proceeded down the river at the rate of twelve miles 
an hour. The weather was delightful, but the season late, and fires 
were still needed in the cabins. The red buds were just in blossom, 
the elm and cottonwood and a few other trees were beginning to 
show leaves. Passed Fort Massac, now only distinguished as a 
farm. The boat shook so much that he could not finish his writing 
as he had intended, and he busied himself in reading the life of 
Colonel David Crockett, a genuin#portraitureof backwood's talent 
and address. Took on board the celebrated Dr. Caldwell, Professor 
in Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.,who about this period 
was making himself conspicuous as the advocate of the views of 
Gall and Spurzheim in phrenology, who had been on a lecturing 
tour to Nashville, Tenn., and who aflbrded much interest and amuse- 
ment. His semi4nfidel notions, not only in regard to phrenology, 
but to a diversity of original races of mankind, called forth dis- 
cussion between him and Dr. Ed. Beecher, President Baldwin, and 
Mr. Peck, which pleasantly filled up their time till the boat reached 
Louisville. Here they were transferred to another steamer. Stopped 
for a day or two at Cincinnati, where an opportunity was afforded 
Mr. Peck of renewing his intercourse with that distinguished pro- 
moter of the Western Education Society, E. Robins, and others, 



TRIENNIAL CONVENTION AT RICHMOND. 261 

then fully engrossed with the plans which ere long resulted in the 
Covington-purchase of real estate for the founding of the Theologi- 
cal School of the Northwest. Here also he again heard Alexander 
Campbell, and says: "I have exposed the sophistry of his argu- 
ments in the Pioneer." Ascending the Ohio river, which at this 
season of the year he says is uncommonly pleasant, the banks 
being both picturesque and romantic, he reached Guyandotte, Va., 
and thence took stage across that State to Richmond. Spent a 
Sabbath in Charlottesville, and as this whole route was new to 
him — up the Guyandotte, across the dividing ridge to the Kana- 
wha, then up that river past the extensive saline works where two 
million bushels of salt were then annually manufactured, across 
the Alleghany ridge and the Blue Ridge, near the White Sulphur 
springs, the hot springs, and the warm springs, and through Louis- 
burg and Staunton to Monticello — the scenes appear to have awak- 
ened his highest interest. Passing from Charlottesville to Richmond 
he found many streams without bridges, and in one instance the 
water came into the stage. Such, says he, is Old Virginia even 
now ! 

Arriving at the capital, Tuesday, 25th April, he found welcome 
quarters with Rev. I. T. Hinton, the pastor of the First Baptist 
church, with whom then and long afterward his intercourse was 
most endearing and mutually satisfactory. That evening he at- 
tended the anniversary of the A^irginia Baptist Foreign Missionary 
Society. Among the interesting addresses he remarks on one from 
Rev. Mr. Sutton, English Baptist missionary to Orissa, India, the 
seat of Juggernaut's temple, who described the car-festival of that 
idol, the burning of widows, infanticide, and other abominations 
which he had witnessed. 

The next day the delegates of the general triennial convention 
assembled and were organized. Twenty-one States were repre- 
sented by a much larger body of delegates, and from a wider 
extent of country than ever before. Rev. Dr. Cox and Hoby, from 
the Baptist Union of England, were most cordially received. They 
addressed the meeting in a most feeling manner. It was a thrilling 
scene. In the midst of it, Mr. Peck, still suffering from his former 
complaint, had a fresh attack of it, which obliged him to retire. 
In the afternoon the anniversary sermon was preached by Rev. S. 
H. Cone, of New York, and the next morning the annual report 
was read, awakening more interest than had ever been called forth 
before by any similar document. All the remainder of the week 



262 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

was given to the usual business of the convention, which progressed 
and was closed harmoniously. 

On Lord's-day there was preaching by visiting ministers in tho 
third Baptist church and in several others. Mr. Peck heard Eev. 
Mr. Hoby in the morning — an interesting sermon. In the after- 
noon Rev. Mr. Sutton, above mentioned, preached and exhibited 
specimens of the idol gods and other abominations of idolatry to a 
crowded and deeply-affected audience, after which a collection was 
taken to aid his mission. In the evening he heard Dr. Cox preach 
a splendid and powerful discourse from Col. i. 28. 

Monday, the Home Mission Society commenced its anniversary. 
The report was quite interesting, showing an amount of sixty-four 
years labor performed by the missionaries the past year. The 
English delegation were here again introduced, when each made a 
most impressive speech, which was suitably responded to by the 
President and by Rev. Mr. Cone, as Chairman of the Executive 
Committee, on behalf of the society. 

Tuesday, Mr. Peck introduced a resolution urging the ground of 
action on home missions, and made a speech an hour and a quarter 
long, specially of the Mississippi valley. At a meeting held with 
reference to the Baptist General Tract and Publication Society, tho 
position was maintained that the Baptists should co-operate with 
the great union societies, but at the same time should provide 
books and tracts such as are specially needed by the denomination. 
The following evening he preached in the second Baptist church 
giving a sketch of affairs in the West, particularly some of the good 
and hopeful things in Illinois. 

Thursday, in company with Brethren Hinton and Going, he 
visited Richmond College, a manual labor seminary with three 
professors and sixty students, twenty of them Baptist beneficiaries, 
all of whom labored three hours a day. He found it satisfactory 
and encouraging. 

Early next morning he went on board the steamer Thomas 
Jefferson for Norfolk, and had an exciting race on the James river 
with another boat named Patrick Henry, passing the ruins of old 
Jamestown, and other interesting localities. Saturday noon he 
took the steam packet David Brown from Norfolk for New York. 
Passing the Rip Raps, Fortress Monroe and the Cape, they met a 
violent storm, and he experienced for the first and perhaps the last 
time, something like a gale at sea. Monday morning he saw the 
sun rise from his ocean bed, off Sandy Hook, and was soon landed 
in New York, where he foimd a welcome home wiA Professor 



NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA ANNIVERSARIES. 263 

Abraham Mills of the university, an old and valued friend. It 
was the week of anniversaries, and the next day he attended that 
of the Anti-slavery Society, exciting this year more than usual 
interest, because the English Baptist deputation had been invited 
to address it. Though they had given encouragement of doing so, 
yet on fuller consideration they declined, thereby exciting some 
animadversion. The celebrated George Thompson, of England, 
however, was present, and Mr. Peck says, " made a tremendous 
speech. Much of his language was intemperate denunciation." 
The same afternoon he attended the exhibition of the Sabbath- 
school children in the Park — " a grand and pleasant sight." The 
two or three following days and evenings were occupied with atten- 
dance on the American Tract, Bible and Colonization Society 
anniversaries, which seem to have exerted on his own mind a 
powerful and salutary influence. In view of which, he says : " I 
shall most certainly return to the "West with more expansive feel- 
ings, and a higher relish for the great object of Christian philan- 
throphy than I ever felt before. These great national festivals give 
a wide and powerful impulse to the cause." From New York he 
repaired to Philadelphia, attending the anniversary of the American 
Sunday-school Union, which he efficiently addressed, as he had 
several of the societies in New York. He spent two Sabbaths in 
this city, visiting some of his old, choice friends, and preaching in 
most of the Baptist pulpits. He laid his object — securing help for 
the nascent college at Upper Alton — before the several congrega- 
tions. As the result of his appeals, private and pubhc, he says : 
*' I find that Philadelphia Baptists will do a Httle — contribute small 
donations — but are not yet in the habit of doing things on a liberal 
scale." Two or three visits he made to the good city of Penn, to 
Burhngton, and Newark, N. J., and in the meantime did what he 
could in New York and Brooklyn, until the middle of June, when 
he went up the Hudson and attended at Schenectady the session 
of the Hudson *Ri\ev Association, which he had assisted to form at 
Poughkeepsie twenty years before. Then it was a small body, of 
only four churches. Now he found it numbering forty churches, 
many of them large and efficient. 

Before this association, by its. appointment, Mr. Peck preached 
and pleaded the cause of his Western Institution with so much 
effect that, previous to the adjournment, a resolution was passed 
recommending Alton College to the hberality of the churches. 

Keturning then to New York and vicinity, he spent nearly five 
weeks more in getting from churches and individuals the donations 



264 MEMOIR or JOHN M. PECK. 

which they were willing to make for the endowment of a seminary 
of learning in the West. 

About the 20th of July he went to New England : in Providence 
visited his generous, confiding friend Hon. Nicholas Brown, and 
attended the examination of some of the classes in Brown Univerr 
sity. Thence to Boston, to Dr. Shurtleff's, from whom himself 
and his object experienced so much generosity. In and all around 
the city and the vicinity, and even to Portland, Me., he extended 
his energetic visits and appeals for aid. "With various measures 
of success and failure he became familiarized, and seems to have 
taken all in good part — or only indicating slight disappointment or 
displacency when he failed of what he thought reasonable expecta- 
tions. It was one of the fehcities of this good man's nature not to 
be greatly elated or depressed by success or the want of it. It is 
almost amusing to one knowing pretty thoroughly and accurately 
the state of the churches, and the prevalent animus of their pastor3 
in a matter of this kind, to follow his course from city to country, and 
from one church to another, in all these toilsome weeks wliich so 
perseveringly he spent in the endeavors to secure the indispensable 
means for the incipient endowment of the college. Nor was his 
attention confined to this matter. One day and night he devoted 
to a visit to Newton Institution, where his endeavor was to imbue 
the minds of the young brethren — the students — with the purpose 
to give themselves to self-denying service requisite for success in 
the noble field to which he belonged. 

He attended, too, the anniversaries and lectures of the literary 
and scientific institutions as far as possible, and in all proper ways 
both gave and received information. In his journal he remarks, 
" I find that those who have visited in behalf of the West, and 
spoke on the state of things there, have almost exclusively con- 
fined themselves to the dark side of our moral picture. They 
have told of our destitution and our danger, without exhibiting 
those facts which tend to show that great good can be done with 
comparatively small means. I have endeavored to give both sides 
— to show our evils and difficulties, and to show also the improve- 
ments going forward by a judicious and timely use of such means 
as are suited to the circumstances of the West. And on the whole 
I think this course will secure most aid ultimately for the West. 
At the Worcester Association, meeting that year in Sutton, he 
spoke in behalf of the Home Mission and the seminary. On 
again visiting Providence, he conferred at length with Hon. 
Nicholas Brown on the project of his founding a professorship in 



COMMENCEMENT AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 265 

the college at Alton. "At first he seemed disinclined, but since 
has proposed to consider the subject." In that vicinity, too, he 
called on his frequent correspondent in those and subsequent days, 
the Kev. David Benedict, historian of the Baptists, and seems to 
have had much free conference with him on our denominational 
affairs. In this connection he expresses his regret to see men who 
have borne the burden and heat of the day cast into the back 
ground towards evening. "Such," says he, "is human nature. 
Such may probably be my fate. "Well, if those who enter the 
field, for whom myself and others have 'pioneered out the waj?^, 
thrust us back as lumber of a past age, be it so, provided they will 
sustain the cause, and carry forward the great work." 

In this vicinity, too, he fell in with one of Barnum's first hum- 
bugs, Joice Heth, represented as one hundred and sixty-one years 
old, and that she had been a Baptist one hundred and sixteen 
years, the nurse of Washington, etc., of whom he correctly re- 
marks : " She was certainly not a Baptist one hundred and sixteen 
3-ears ago, for no Baptist minister lived in Virginia fhenP^ Show- 
ing how useful in detecting imposture is some little knowledge of 
chronology and history. 

He attended the first week in September the commencement 
exercises at Brown University, and remarks discriminately on the 
day, as pretty uniformly regarded thoughout the httle State of 
Rhode Island as a holiday — banks, factories, shops generally closed, 
and all the people thronging to Providence. The day preceding 
commencement he heard the oration on Intelloetual Philosophy 
of President Ilopkins.of Williams' College, before the United 
Brothers Society, and in the evening the discourse before the 
Society of Missionary Inquiry by Eev. R. E. Pattison, anu in the 
afternoon of commencement day, Professor Caswell on Mathematics 
as a branch of literal education, and Professor Knowles, of New- 
ton Institution, a poem on the Victories of Peace. The evening 
of the same day Dr. Cox preached a grand sermon from John iii. 
30, "He must increase." On the whole he was delighted and 
profited by the services. 

He then made a little tour into his native State, Connecticut. 

Spent a Sabbath in Hartford, and received one hundred and fifty 

dollars for his object — attended the Hartford Association at Canton, 

and records with some feeling his meeting with old friends, naming 

particularly Elder Rufus Babcock, then seventy-seven years old. 

Elder Asahel Morse, Deacon John Gurney, and George D. James 

of the church in Amenia, and others whom he had formerly known. 
23 



266 



MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



Here, too, Drs. Cox and Hoby were both present and preached 
and he parted with them and others expecting never probably to 
meet m time! Then he returned through Suffield, where he was 
interested m the Literary Institution, and Springfield, where the 
armory of the United States called forth the emphatic record. Oh, 
when will the nations learn war no more ? 

Keturning again to Boston, he found to his high satisfaction that 
Mr. Lewis Colby, who had been associated with him in his collect- 
ing agency, " had done nobly in collecting funds." He then attended 
the Boston Association, meeting that year with the first Baptist 
church m that city, where he again plead the cause of the West 
The following week he attended in the same way the Salem Associa. 
tion at Lowell, where he and others were solemnly impressed bv 
the very sudden death of the Eev. Mr. Freeman, pastor of the 
church where the association convened, who preached Sabbath 
morning, and died the following Tuesday morning, the very day 
before the association convened. 

After visiting sundry other churches and places in the vicinity 
of Boston, his journal states, under date of October 6th, 1835- 
''Held a conversation with Dr. Shurtlelf on the subject 'of the 
college. He proposed to give ten thousand dollars on the following 
conditions: Five thousand dollars for building purposes the 
college to be named Shurtleff College, and the other five thousand 
dollars to establish a professorship of rhetoric and elocution " 
Besides this sum, Mr. Peck found that he and his associate had 
made up m subscriptions, donations, and collections, about ten 
thousand dollars more, or the entire four-fifths of the sum deemed 
indispensable by the trustees when he had been sent forth Visiting 
once more Hon. N. Brown in Providence, and holding another con- 
versation with him in regard to the endowment of a professorship 
he makes this final record :- Though he did not promise expressly 
I have strong hopes that he will do it." The followmg day, Octo- 
ber 9th, he took leave of New England. 

After a hurried visit to his old friends in Caatskill and Hudson 
and to the church in Durham, where he. was baptized and licensed 
to preach twenty-four years before, where he found the same pastor 
Elder HermonHervey, who had then officiated, and preached again 
m the same house and from the same text where his first sermon 
ms dehyered, he visited several of his wife's and his own relatives, 
and left New York on his way home the 24th of October. He went 
by the way of Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and reached, after several 
detentions, the city of Cincinnati, November 3d. One week he re- 



RETURN HOME — WORK FOR THE COLLEGE. 26t 

mained here, attending the Baptist convention and holding interest- 
ing conversations and conferences -^yith private individuals and 
larger bodi^, which he intended should be promotive of his great 
object, the evangelization and general improvement of the West. 

November 18th he reached his home at Rock Spring, and found 
his family well. In this tour he had traveled five thousand eight 
hundred and sixty miles, and secured the object aimed at. Yet 
there seemed no exultation, only humble gratitude to the favoring 
Providence which had protected him and the Spirit of God which 
had inclined so many friends to aid the good cause which he had 
advocated. 

On reaching the site of the college at Upper Alton, he found to 
his mortification that the buildings and other improvements had 
not progressed as he expected. But one meeting of the trustees 
had been held in the seven months of his absence, and ih.e festina 
lente spirit had seemed to characterize all their proceedings. The 
trustees immediately were called together, and considerable vigor 
was infused into their counsels and action. His earnest spirit chafed 
somewhat when, in one department and another, he found a vast 
amount of business to be done, and yet no one to do it. But he 
was not the man to sit down despondent. Yigor and efficiency 
were soon predominant over former Hstlessness. One day he records 
himself as engaged in preparing for the boarding-house of the col- 
lege, and arranging the buildings and improvements ; drew plans 
for out-buildings, etc. The next he was making out an approxima- 
tion towards what must be charged for board of the students. The 
following list of provision and other prices which he put down may 
interest some readers as indicating a true comparison between that 
day and this : 

Pork, three dollars and a half a hundred ; beef, the same ; common 
wheat flour, the same ; sugar, eight pounds for a dollar ; coffee, 
five and a half ditto ; hyson tea, one dollar a pound or eighty-three 
cents per the chest; corn, thirty-one cents a bushel; corn-meal, 
fifty cents ditto ; boarding at common boarding-houses for me- 
chanics at two dollars to two and a half per week ; iron castings 
four to five cents a pound ; potatoes, twenty-five cents a bushel ; 
cows (common) twelve dollars ; new milch, fifteen to eighteen 
(scarce) ; butter by the firkin, twenty-five cents a pound, and scarce. 
Property of all kinds has risen from twenty to thirty per cent, in 
twelve months, or probably money has depreciated at that rate. 

To facilitate his labors as factotum, he took up his residence in 
the college boarding-house ; to regulate which — with forming rules 



268 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

for the preparatory department, and getting with much difficulty a 
quorum of the trustees to act on matters of most pressing import- 
ance, as well as an engagement to supply the church in Alton three 
Sabbaths in the month, and strive to arouse them, and call back a 
scattered congregation — occupied the chief of his time and efforts 
during the closing weeks of the year 1835. 

Early in January he was in Vandalia, the seat of government, 
mingling from necessity with politicians and legislators. Part of 
his object was to complete by the aid of a Mr. Messinger a larger 
and more accurate map of Illinois with the latest and most reliable 
accounts of counties, towns, and improvements. While there, by 
request of the legislature, he officiated at the funeral of one of 
their number. About this time, also, he was for several weeks very 
busy in revising, enlarging, and almost making anew his " Guide 
for Emigrants," a new edition of which was called for, and printed 
in Boston. 

Nearly the whole of this winter and the following spring he 
seems to have been held in vacillating uncertainty as to his own 
future course. His health was very infirm, and he was nearly dis- 
couraged as to the prospect of being able to endure the rough-and- 
tumble of such traveling preaching tours as he had hitherto fulfilled. 
Ilie city of Alton (the lower town), was pretty rapidly advancing in 
population and wealth, and there was a Baptist church very small, 
but containing some efficient members, which desired him to settle 
with them as their pastor. He seemed to think he might combine 
with this a depository of Bibles, Sunday-school and other books, and 
perhaps the Secretaryship of the Sunday-school operations in the 
West. This would also bring him near the college, which greatly 
needed the constant, nursing care of some loving and capable 
friend. 

The Pioneer was also to be removed from Rock Spring to Alton, 
and a new project was set on foot to raise one thousand dollars in 
twenty shares to set the paper on a more satisfactory footing, and 
four-fifths of the shares were taken up. But on the contrary 
Mr. Peck found unexpected difficulties in disposing of his real estate, 
his homestead at Rock Spring, without the avails of which he 
would be embarrassed in the attempt to establish himself else- 
where. With very poor and infirm health, with responsibilities and 
virtual pledges to Eastern contributors that their investment for 
the benefit of the West should not be in vain and should be made 
widely efficient, it may be well understood his solicitudes were 
mcessant. 



SEVERE ATTACK OF SICKNESS, 269 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Sickness — New Series of Pioneer — Pecuniary Embarrassment — Pio- 
neer Expenses — Excessive Labors — Alton Riots— Death of Lovejoy 
— Revivals — Missionary Tours — Pastorship at Rock Spring. 

The closing part of May, 1836, and the beginning of the following 
month Mr. Peck experienced a severe attack of bilious fever, which 
in a few days brought him apparently to the borders of the grave. 
This seizure was sudden, and overtook him when away from home, 
attending at Brown's Prairie the session of the Edwardsville Asso- 
ciation. He lay for near three weeks at the dwelling of Elder Elisha 
Starkweather too weak to be removed. For two or three days his 
case remained doubtful, but the blessing of God accompanied the 
use of vigorous means, and at length the fever left him, and very 
slowly he began to amend. He remarks in regard to this illness 
that in his extremity he was conscious of the critical situation he 
was in, but was calm, and his confidence in the Saviour was un- 
shaken, though from the nature of the disease probably he had no 
joyful emotions. The day after his removal to Upper Alton, he 
remarks : " I feel now exceedingly grateful to God whose arm alone 
has sustained me. I am still exceeding weak, and gain but slowly, 
but am free from fever." He was now in the family of his daughter, 
Mrs. Smith, which had removed with the printing-office to Upper 
Alton, and soon as he was able we find him going to the lower town 
and arranging the Sunday-school depository and bookstore which 
he there established. The pastorship of that church had in the 
meantime been confided to the Eev. Dwight Ives, from whose effi- 
cient labors much good was expected. The last day of June he 
records in his diary : ''We got out the first number of the Western 
Pioneer and Baptist Standard Bearer." This of course was but a 
new name in part, and a new series of the paper before issued at 
Kock Spring, but hereafter published at Upper Alton for some years, 
and to editing which he seems to have returned .with fresh vigor. 
In the month of August, this year, he mentions giving a thorough 
revision and enlargement to his map of Illinois, adding the roads 
and distances of principal places, also a Ihorough revision and con- 



270 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

rection of his " New Guide for Emigrants," another edition of which 
his publishers called for. 

Then during the same month lie arranged to attend a special 
meeting of the Baptist State Convention of Illinois at Springfield, 
after which he purposed to accomplish an extensive tour in Mis- 
souri. During this meeting at Springfield the Illinois Baptist Edu- 
cation Society was formed under auspicious circumstances. He 
acted as Secretary of the convention, and remarks that all his time 
out of the public meetings was taken up in preparing the minutes 
for the press and reporting the speeches Avhich were delivered. 
Two or three times during the session he preached in Springfield or 
the vicinity. Then hurrying on through Jacksonville, where he 
also preached, he reached, between the Illinois river and the Mis- 
sissippi, the Blue River Association then in session. Two very 
interesting subjects engaged their attention ; the foreign Bible 
cause and the Education Society for the State, which had just 
been formed. In the deeply-interesting discussions on these topics 
he bore a leading part, and strove, out of the time of the sessions, 
to report for his paper as fully as possible. The Lord's-day came, 
but brought nO rest to him. He was appointed to preach the first 
and principal sermon, which he delivered under the trees, where 
it was very hot and he suffered much. At night the brethren com- 
pelled him to preach again in a crowded school-room, where the 
heat was almost intolerable. He suffered much from heat and 
fatigue, and the result was great debility, with fever and inflamed 
^ore throat, through the following week. Proceeding on his way 
he reached Quincy, and stopped at a " sorry tavern," where only 
the most wretched accommodations could be obtained. Could get 
no room, or fire, which in his chills he much needed, and his sleep- 
ing-apartment was under a broken window, which added to his dis- 
comfort and danger. He rested most uncomfortably, and next day 
crossed the Mississippi and the Fabius (the latter in a canoe to 
secure his trunk and box of books from wetting) ; he reached with 
great difficulty through the muddy bottoms Palmyra, and for two 
nights and a day rested himself in the hospitable mansion of Brother 
Wm. Wright. September 1st he left for the residence of Father 
Yardeman, in Ralls coimty, where he arrived at night quite ill. 
This indisposition, which was little else than the result of over- 
doing and expoatire while his system had not yet recovered from 
the attack before mentioned, confined him for near a fortnight at 
the house of this revered father in the ministry. It broke up his 
plans, frustrated his hope of attending the Salt River Association, 



LECTURES ON ILLINOIS HISTORY. 2T1 

and then pressing onward to the Boone's Lick Settlement in Mis- 
souri, where he had hoped to accomplish 'considerable for the in- 
creased circulation of the Pioneer. Yery reluctantly he abandoned 
this part of ^jis enterprise, and the middle of September turned 
his face homeward. On the way he mentions getting " stalled" in 
crossing Bay creek, injured himself in lifting out his trunk, box, 
and seat, from his wagon, and then had to go three miles to get a 
man and oxen to haul out his wagon, and through all these diffi- 
culties, after crossing the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers, he 
arrived at his friend Eussell's near Beman's ferry, late at night, 
broken down and ill. Detained in this manner about ten days. 
Then passing through Alton, where he found many things suffering 
from his absence, he reached his family the very last day of the 
month at Eock Spring. After a week ©r two of lassitude his over- 
tasked frame began to rally again, and by the middle of October 
he was found at Bethel attending the regular anniversary of the 
Illinois Baptist convention. Not able yet to be out evenings, he 
was present at all the day-sessions, and found them interesting and 
hopeful. Soon after he began to preach again with his usual fervor, 
and at the end of the month this entry occurs in his diary : " This 
evening I am forty-eight years old; Still I am a great sinner, felying 
on a great Saviour. Lord, help me to live more to thy glory !" 

Early in November he spent a Sabbath in Alton, preaching 
twice for his brother Ives, who was ill, and the next Lord's-day he 
was in St. Louis, where he preached three times, and aided his 
colored brother Meacham in administering the communion. 

Towards the end of January, 1837, he composed two lectures on 
the early history of Illinois, with a view to deliver them at Van- 
dalia, the seat of government, during the session of the Legislature. 
February 2d he delivered the first of these lectures, embracing the 
early exploration of Illinois by the French, from 1673 to 1687, to 
a large audience, consisting of members of the legislature, officers 
of government, and other gentlemen interested, assembled in the 
state-house. 

Two evenings afterward he delivered the second lecture, on the 
early Indian history of Illinois. "At the close, a public meeting 
was organized, and resolutions passed, one of which requested me 
to write and publish a Compile History of Illinois." A com- 
mittee of correspondence M'as also appointed to aid him in collect- 
ing materials. He seems to have seriously entertained this 
overture for some time, and made considerable preparation for ita 



2Y2 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

performance ; but his materials were subsequently used in the 
Western Annals and in other publications. 

Three or four weeks were now spent by him in the capital. In 
some of the debates and other proceedings in regard to the in- 
ternal improvements in the State, and the fixing its future seat of 
government, he took some interest, and was present when the 
measures adopted finally passed. His minute and thorough knowl- 
edge of the different localities was also increased by his intercourse 
with the members of the legislature ; and he seems to have given 
considerable time to going over carefully the whole ground, for the 
purpose of introducing into his State Gazetteer the most recent 
and reliable information of every locality. While engaged in this, 
another project was started. The friends of internal improvement 
were desirous that a small, cheap monthly periodical should be 
circulated to advocate their measures, and meet the opposition 
raised against them. He was offered the editorship of this periodi- 
cal, and seems to have thought it possible so to connect it with the 
conducting of the Pioneer at Alton that it might prove a useful 
auxiliary. He sa^^s that should one thousand subscribers be ob- 
tained he had consented to undertake it, for without some such 
appendage he could not sustain the Pioneer. The last day of 
February he says, "This day, by vote of both houses of the legis- 
lature, the seat of government is to be removed to Springfield 
after the year 1840." 

Late in the spring he took a preaching tour through portions of 
Missouri. Called on a Baptist preacher by the name of Stevens, a 
determined anti-missionary. Was treated kindly by him, but he 
said very decidedly that he would have done the same for old friends 
if we had been gamblers. Such are his notions of all missionaries, 
and he preaches this boldly. He is a man of talents, and a good 
speaker. 

This year (ISS'T) will be long remembered for the financial 
troubles which brought so much distress on almost all portions 
of our country. In various ways it affected our brother very 
sensibly. In July he mentions having been obliged to labor 
for several days, as far as his strength would permit, in getting 
in his rye and hay harvest, because his means had become so 
exceedingly limited that he could not hire. 'The expenses of 
the Pioneer were a continued drain upon his scanty purse, as 
he was unable to collect from subscribers more than one-half 



SPECIAL AGENCY FOR HOME MISSION SOCIETY. 2Y3 

its actual expenses. Yarious plans were set on foot to relieve 
him from this pressure ; and on the failure of some of these, 
from the lukewarmness of a portion of his associates, he be- 
came for a time quite discouraged, and wrote a valedictory, 
which was even put in type, with a view of suspending the 
publication indefinitely. But at just this crisis other plans 
were proposed, which inspired some degree of hope, and he 
staggered on under the unreasonable load imposed on him. 

Just about this time, also, the American and Foreign Bible 
Society corresponded with him, proposing to give him the general 
agency for that institution throughout the northwestern States. 
He entertained the proposition with a degree of favor, and wrote 
to the Corresponding Secretary very fully as to his plans and hopes 
for promoting the object, specially the foreign objects of this or- 
ganization. Conditionally he proposed to accept of this agency, 
but before the time arrived when he had expected to enter on these 
duties, other more pressing demands were urged upon him. One 
of these was from the Baptist Home Mission Society, which he 
and Dr. Going had united in maturing. The pecuniary pressure 
of the whole country affected their treasury most seriously, so 
much so as to render it doubtful whether it would be possible for 
them to pay the small stipends they had promised to the poor, 
toiling missionaries all over the West. Many of these men had 
been appointed on his recommendation ; he knew them well, both 
their worth and their present pressing needs, and he affirmed most 
truthfully that if the society's sacred engagements were now 
broken with them, not only would their families be in danger of 
actual starvation, but the bad faith — as it would be reckoned — of 
the society itself would bind a millstone around the neck of evan- 
gelizing operations in all this region for many years to come. Under 
these painfully disheartening circumstances he felt himself obliged 
to proffer such aid as he could supply in acting as soliciting agent 
for home missions until present relief could be procured. Under 
a special commission for this purpose he hastened among the more 
able churches of both Missouri and Illinois, and his importunate 
pleadings for help — help in a pressing exigency — were so far re- 
sponded to that the immediate distress was relieved. 

The true character of this man of God shines out very 
clearly in his efforts in this emergency. He had other plans 



274 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

connected with education, periodicals and books, for the pro- 
motion of which he now felt the liveliest interest. He had 
an amount of pecuniary pressure now resting on him enough to 
have turned many a Great-heart into a Mr. Fearing. Besides, 
some at least of these missionaries now in debt, and in dan- 
ger of suffering, had been ungrateful for his past efforts in 
their behalf, seemingly more ready to bite than to bless the 
hand which fed them. But rising above all this untoward 
combination, how nobly did he put forth the most energetic 
and persistent efforts to aid those whose past and present 
course but too fujly proved that the more abundantly he loved 
them the less was he loved in return. But this ill-requital 
was not true of all. The better and worthier class were be- 
coming more and more thoroughly convinced that his career 
was one of noble disinterestedness ; and his plans generally wise 
and far-seeing. Hence the willingness of this class to come up 
to his aid whenever he in earnest uttered the true hailing cry 
of distress. Successful as he was in this endeavor, it was 
only secured as the result of personal efforts and sacrifices 
assumed by him which were quite disproportioned to any one 
man's ability long to bear. The hurried entries in his journal 
about these days show strikingly how he was driven. Here 
is a specimen : 

" September 22(i. Reached home [after traveling a great part of 
the night] before breakfast. My health is failing from undue 
labors and exposures. Spent the day in writing letters, of which 
I despatched seventeen, several of them whole sheets full." Next 
day he traveled nearly forty miles, so as to reach the South District 
Association in time that very day to secure a collection for mis- 
sions and to get this body to send a committee to visit the 
Edwardsville Association next spring for a very important object, 
and to induce them to recommend the Pioneer to general patron- 
age. Thus indefatigably he pressed onward in promotion of the 
Master's cause. How well that Divine Master knew how to mingle 
sweetness in his cup of hard experience ! The very next week or 
two after the above efforts, he returns home and finds a blessed 
revival in progress among his neighbors. Yea, more, two of his 
sons were among the subjects of the work wMch seemed to be 
spreading all around him, specially in those places where his own 



ALTON RIOTS AND MURDER OF LOVEJOY. 275 

preaching and praying had been most frequent. For months 
about this period, it pleased the Lord to give him great enjoyment 
and also great success in pleading with sinners to be reconciled to 
God. So emphatically true and surprising was this that he enters 
a minute of it with adoring thankfulness. '' Scarce a sermon have 
I delivered of late which (lod has not blessed in the conversion of 
souls." 

In the midst of these pleasant experiences he was called to 
witness other scenes of most tragic and painful character. 

There is preserved in his journal, taken down obviously at 
the very time, a pretty full account of the Alton riots, and 
the murder of Bishop by the abolitionists, and of Lovejoy by 
their opponents. He was induced afterwards to give a very 
full, and, it may be presumed, a very impartial account of these 
transactions, which transpired in the very scene of his daily 
labors, and in the various stages of the progress of which his 
neighbors and friends were actors and sufferers. Engaged as 
he was in conducting the Pioneer at Upper Alton, but two 
or three miles from the seat of the riots, and having daily to 
mingle with the principal citizens who had endeavored to 
quench the coals of strife, while some few, and those mainly 
from a distance, seemed determined to fan them into a flame, 
it may be presumed he would watch very narrowly, and re- 
cord cautiously and truthfully, what came under his notice. 
Accordingly his description of the occurrences of two prelimi- 
nary meetings of the Law and Order citizens of Alton, the ap- 
pointment of a committee of seven, their names, characters, and 
propositions, with the tumultuous and excited meeting which 
failed to adopt their recommendations, is all presented in this 
private diary with every evidence of candor and impartiality. 
Mr. Peck evidently thought at the time that there was no neces- 
sity for the bloody result ; and while blaming with discrimina- 
tion the faultiness and violent pertinacity on both sides, it is 
obvious that he foresaw, as others did with equal clearness, that 
the proposed compromise, not of principles, but of persons, 
would be sure to gain more, and imperil less for the triumph 
of truth, of righteousness, of freedom, than the rejection of 
it. What he regarded as the wrong, the unwise course, how- 



276 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

ever, prevailed, and the fearful loss of life, and of the very 
object for which all this contest was carried on, was the re- 
sult. 

Subsequently to these public meetings, at both of which he 
was present, he was called away to attend a protracted 
meeting, and engage in the labors of a revival, where God 
was wondrously pouring out his spirit. At this place — 
Edwardsville — he was thus engaged when the fearful catas- 
trophe occurred. This is his account of the occurrence : 

It appears from the various reports that a new press for the 
Observer ofiice was landed at Alton on Monday night. On Tues- 
day night Mr. Lovejoy and some fifteen or twenty associates, with 
fire-arms, entered the warehouse of Godfry & Oilman, where the 
press was stored, to defend it. That about ten or eleven o'clock 
the building was attacked by 'a mob of some twenty or thirty 
persons, who demanded the press for destruction. This being re- 
fused, they assailed the house with stones. That Mr. Lovejoy 
(or some other, for the accounts differ) then fired, mortally wound- 
ing Mr. Bishop, who was standing alone, neither attempting nor 
threatening violence. Bishop was carried to the surgeon's oflBce, 
where he died in two or three hours. The mob then returned 
more exasperated. The Mayor and civil authorities tried to com- 
mand the peace, but the cry was " Burn the house ! burn them 
out!" The building was then twice set on fire in the roof ; and 
after much fighting, violence, and disorder, the persons in the house 
— Mr. W. S. Oilman at the head — proposed to give up the press if 
they might be allowed to depart in peace. Sometime previous 
to this, however, Mr. Lovejoy, who is represented as having fought 
like a hero, stepped out of the house so as to be fully exposed, and 
while raising his gun to shoot a man on the roof setting fire to it, 
received the shots of two guns in his breast. He walked into the 
house, ascended the stairs, fell and expired. Horrible scene truly I 
A deep and lasting disgrace to the city of Alton ! 

In the meantime the revival in which our brother was en- 
gaged went on with power, and about a score of precious 
souls put on Christ in the initiatory ordinance of his appoint- 
ment in Edwardsville, while the good work spread extensively 
to other places in difi'erent directions. 

Twice as many soon followed the Saviour at Bethel, still 



MISSIONARY SUPERINTENDENCE — PASTORSHIP. 27.7 

nearer his residence. Then followed the regular meeting of 
the State convention, which appointed him their general 
agent ; and by an agreement with the American Baptist 
Home Mission Society the supervision of their missionaries 
in this field was confided to the Board of the convention, of 
which by this appointment he became the efficient executive. 

In prosecution of these duties he traveled extensively 
through the central and western portions of Illinois, visiting 
the missionaries on their fields of labor, advising with, encour- 
aging them, and in some instances gathering information in 
regard to them and the degree of their acceptableness, which 
he bore to the Board, thus enabling the latter to make the 
wisest disposition of 'those under their direction. 

Early the next year he was with unanimity elected to the 
pastorship of the Baptist church, worshiping at Rock Spring 
and Zoar. He accepted with the understanding that he 
should devote to them immediately one-fourth of his time, and 
soon as he could terminate other engagements the half was 
to be given them. In this service, and specially in religious 
visiting among the families of this flock, he seems to have 
felt unusual satisfaction. To himself this was most welcome 
after so long having been deprived chiefly of such access ; 
and as a means of increased usefulness to the souls over 
whom he watched, he had the most satisfactory proof of its 
efficiency. 

As a specimen of his Christian and ministerial fidelity, a 
letter, to an inebriate, backslidden brother, of the most 
pungent character, in his journal, is well worthy of being 
reproduced here, but space cannot be found for it. 

He subsequently wrote : " This and other letters had the 
desired effect, and completely reclaimed him." How blessed 
the consciousness of having been thus made the honored 
instrument of reclaiming the sinner from the error of his 
ways, and saving a soul from death 1 This man, too, was 
one of high standhig and wide influence, thereby enabled to 
do extensive good. 
24 



278 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

Transfer of the Pioneer — Mission Tours — Extent of Correspondence 
—Return of Illness — Fifty Years Old — Pastorsliip at Belleville. 

Near the close of the year 1838 sundry communications 
were received by Mr. Peck from the publisher and editor of 
the Baptist Banner, Louisville, Ky., proposing a union of the 
two papers. So great had been his embarrassment in sus- 
taining almost alone, with only casual and trifling contribu- 
tions from a few public-spirited brethren, this whole enterprise 
that he felt constrained to regard such an overture favorably. 

Earlier in the year, about the last of May and June, he had taken 
an extensive tour throughout the whole of Northeastern Missouri 
from St. Louis and Columbia, in which latter place he had attended 
the "central meeting" of Missouri Baptists, where some twenty 
ministers and many private brethren convened, counseled, and in- 
fused new vigor into their plans for domestic missions ; thence 
onward to the northern corner, and even into Iowa across the 
Des Moines river. He was performing in all this journey the work 
of an exploring missionary agent, and made full report of the 
result of his investigation to the Secretary of the American Baptist 
Home Mission Society in New York. He found much to be done 
in counseling with missionaries and churches on this field, and tried 
to settle diiiiculties, remove misconceptions and prejudices, and 
arrest the tendency to schism which he found prevalent in several 
localities. 

For this purpose he had some important advantages. A 
native of New England himself, and fully acquainted with 
the views and practices prevalent among his Eastern brethren, 
he had also the experience of many years residence in the 
free West, had mingled much with the in-comers from every 
section of our own country and from other lands, had learned 
that all possible excellencies were not found among any one 



PROMOTING SABBATH OBSERVANCE. 2Y9 

class, but that the free mingling and blending of all, and the 
eclectic spirit which culls the good from every quarter was the 
true wisdom and the solemn duty of these new settlers. How 
earnestly and perseveringly he labored to diffuse this spirit, 
wherever most needed, his journals bear frequent witness. In 
preaching and prayer, and specially in all his private inter- 
course with the " one-sided" brethren whom he met, his en- 
deavor was to soften their hearts, and to lessen, if he could 
not entirely remove, their mutual prejudices and antipathies. 
In these efforts he was measurably successful, and great good 
was the result. 

On his return home a notice occurs, under date of July 22d, 
of his preaching with great earnestness in behalf of the better 
observance of the Sabbath. As is too common in the new 
settlements, and where but a portion of the Lord's-days have 
religious services, the young persons get into lax and lawless 
habits of desecrating the holy day. To his great grief he 
learned that some of his own children along with many of 
their neighbors had done this, and his spirit was deeply 
stirred within him to attempt a thorough reformation. His 
earnest and solemn remonstrance on this subject, with a lucid 
illustration of the great Sabbath law, as made for man uni- 
versal, seems to have done much good ; and in various circles, 
at associations and elsewhere, he discoursed on this important 
practical measure with happy effect. 

Late in this month he set forth again for another similar tour 
of nearly six weeks in Central and Western Illinois, and extending 
into Iowa. He mentions, as one encouraging feature of what he 
found, that " Baptist churches in every direction were building 
meeting-houses." Some of these were indeed very humble and of 
primitive simplicity ; others were more pretentious and commodious 
as well as tasteful ; while in both classes there was a common dis- 
position to begin and not finish, and hence many inceptive and 
hitherto abortive efforts of this character stood forth only in their 
incomplete and repellant condition to mock the inefficiency of their 
projectors. His efforts had to be often turned to awakening and 
directing public spirit and endeavors to the finishing of such enter- 
prises, or at least to bringing them to such a condition that they could 



280 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

be used and preserved from ruinous waste or dilapidation. The 
territory of Iowa was just now attracting considerable interest, 
and was drawing into it a worthy class of emigrants from different 
quarters. His efforts and counsels here in the several counties 
which he visited, chiefly in the southeastern section of the ter- 
ritory, were timely and useful in an uncommon degree. He man- 
aged, too, to attend as many associations and protracted meetings 
as possible throughout his whole tour. The Military Tract of 11- 
hnois, as that inviting portion of the State between the Illinois 
and Mississippi rivers is called, often drew him within its borders, 
and the blessed fruits of his footprints, his early labors and counsels, 
yet remain indelible there. 

Immediately on his return home from this tour he was again 
seized with congestive bilious fever, which brought him to the 
brink of the grave. After Hngering a while in apparent equipoise 
between life and death he at length slowly recovered, but was for 
eight weeks unable to preach. During this confinement the State 
convention of Baptists in Illinois held its anniversary, and knowing 
with what difficulty he had for months struggled to maintain his 
paper, the Pioneer, they proposed to raise a fund adequate to 
purchase it, and help him hereafter to conduct it more efficiently 
as their editor. The convention committee, charged with the exe- 
cution of the enterprise, entered upon the attempt with consider- 
able zeal, and raised in pledges about the half of what was requisite. 
So sanguine were they of being able to complete the whole sum 
that it for a while arrested the progress of the negotiation men- 
tioned in the beginning of this chapter for uniting this paper with 
the one in Louisville. 

Mr. Peck did not share in these cheering expectations of success. 
He had seen more efforts of the same kind, after beginning hope- 
fully, end in disappointment, than the younger brethren who were 
making this attempt. However, he waited patiently till the end of 
the year, giving all the time asked to test the practicability of the 
endeavor. He used this intervening period also most wisely in 
writing to the more influential brethren in Illinois and Missouri, 
especially those who had done most in aiding the circulation of the 
paper, telling them frankly tliat in the years of his conducting it, 
besides all his own time, labor, and risk, he had actually sunk between 
three and four thousand dollars in cash in the endeavor to carry it 
on, and that he could do no more, asking them, at the same time, 
whether under these circumstances they would not advise the trans- 
fer of its subscription-list to the Kentucky Banner. Almost unaui- 



TRANSFER OF PIONEER — HARRIS' UNION. 281 

mously they responded in the affirmative, so that with cordial assent 
and approval this transfer was made in January, 1839. The under- 
standing was that he should continue to collect the outstanding 
dues of the concern until he had paid himself for his current ad- 
vances, and then all the future pecuniary interest was to become 
vested in the publisher of the Banner, who obligated himself to 
pay Mr. Peck a small amoimt for each subscriber who might con- 
tinue to take the paper after this union. The name of the Pioneer 
was also to be combined with the Banner so as to make the union 
as perfect as possible. He was desired to continue his own services 
as assistant-editor, but wisely declined at such a distance as his 
residence from the place of publication being more than a con- 
tributor, though afterward by the earnest entreaty of Illinois breth- 
ren he did for a time assent to the former arrangement. His son- 
in-law, Mr. Smith, who had been the printer, and greatly aided in 
selecting articles for the Pioneer, was thus thrown out of employ, 
and the poor, meager printing-office was left on Mr. Peck's hands 
as well as the house and office in Upper Alton, where it had been 
published. Soon as practicable these were disposed of, and thus a 
great burden was cleared from his shoulders. 

This gave him more time for pastoral and missionary work. 
It also allowed him more opportunity to read and enrich his 
mind, by a survey of the best thoughts of the most nobly 
endowed and cultivated intellects, which he was always ready 
to do, but often lacked the time for it. The brief and sum- 
mary notes and critiques which appear in his journal, in 
regard to books thus read by him, are often interesting. Here 
is a specimen. He had much admired many of the writings 
of John Harris, H.D., his Great Commission, Mammon, and 
some others, and he now fell upon his volume on Christian 
Union. After reading which, he thus discriminately analyzes : 

Many good thoughts and suggestions are here, but also some 
sophistry. Union among all Christians is certainly desirable, but 
it never can be gained by compromise with any part of scriptural 
obedience or duty. Harris lays down the following as the "Idnd" 
of union to be sought : " Union, to he 'permanent, must he hased on 
the sole authority of the word of God, and the inalienable right of 
private judgment J^ And yet there runs through this treatise the 
assumption that Christians must surrender minor matters. After- 



282 ' MEiMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

wards he urges, "A rejection of all terms of communion, ■uhich are 
not terms of salvation." Now, as in exercising the " inalienable right 
of private judgment," I verily believe this to be an unscriptural 
doctrine, therefore, on this very point, Dr. Harris and J. M. Peck 
are as wide apart as before. 

Here is another specimen, in quite another range of literature. 
" Read Faulkland by Bufwer. Its tendencies are certainly licen- 
tious. The impression made by reading the book would be that 
the passion of unlawful love is uncontrollable, and that^all attempts 
at self-government are useless. Walter Scott's novels have a con- 
trary tendency. They leave the impression of blame adhering to 
criminal acts and desires, as well .as their destructive tendencies." 

Early in the year 1839 he wrote a third lecture on the early 
history of Illinois, embracing the conquest of that territory by 
General G. R. Clark, which he also delivered at Yandalia by re- 
quest of members of the legislature and others, with ^uch 
acceptance. 

How intensely busy he must have been during all this 
period is obvious, for I find the record of two hundred and 
twenty-five letters written by him in the first two months of 
this year, besides transacting an unusual amount of business 
connected with the transfer of his paper, the removal and 
settlement of his son-in-law in a new location, and preaching 
almost every Sabbath, as well as numerous journeys, which 
even at that inclement season of hard traveling he was 
obliged to undertake. Copies of some of these letters are 
preserved, and they are by no means brief, but extend to a 
dozen foolscap pages, written out and copied by no machine 
process, but by the slow and careful labor of forming one 
letter at a time by the pen. The matter of some of these 
epistles is as elaborate and carefully constructed as any thing 
which he ever wrote. Take for an example his defence of 
the right and the wisdom of a Baptist presbytery to proceed 
to the fellowship of a minister coming over to us from another 
evangelical denomination without anew laying on hands 
upon him, as an entire re-ordination. The ground he assumes 
is, that Baptist independency of churches demands this free- 
dom in judgment on the part of each church, and each 
ordaining council assembled by their desire, and hence, while 



I 



THE QUESTION OF RE-ORDINATION. 283 

the practice in such cases is various, neither the one course 
nor the other is to be condemned — for which judgment he 
certainly furnishes very cogent reasons, in answer to a 
ministering brother who had somewhat violently assailed 
him, both as a pastor and an editor, for taking the part 
which his conscience, in a particular case, approved. 

It is doubtful whether an abler argument is extant than 
this long letter contains on that side of the question. It 
would seem that he had made himself familiar with all the 
views and practices on this subject of Baptists, early and 
modern, in this country and Sbroad, as well as the reasons 
they assigned for them. One cannot but marvel at the extent 
and accuracy of his research. At the same time he evinces 
no pertinacity for the prevalence of his views in regard to 
this practice of re-ordination ; but says candidly, on the very 
threshold, that he regards it as one of those difficult and 
delicate questions about which sound and orthodox Baptists 
differ, and that a controversy on it would do no good, and 
might do harm. Hence he forebore to publish these views, and 
contented himself with presenting them to the brother referred 
to, in a private letter. This was his more common practice 
in all similar cases, and in after years he was wont to speak 
of this course as in his judgment much happier than to 
publish abroad more freely, in doubtful cases. 

When his year of pastorship at Rock Spring terminated, he was 
unanimously re-elected, and consented to serve the church as 
before, viz. : to visit each family (they were not very numerous) 
once a quarter, and to preach three or four sermons to them every 
month, ordinarily occupying, however, but one Sabbath of the 
month, as his other Sabbaths were claimed elsewhere, in- St. Louis 
frequently, and in other important parts of his great field. 

In the latter part of April, 1839, he was urged by brethren in 
Kentucky to visit them, as an important meeting was to be held in 
Lexington for the organization of a State auxiliary to the American 
and Foreign Bible Society, and it was desired that the same occa- 
sion should be improved, when the brethren were generally 
together, to consider other questions of common and important 
interest to the welfare of the denomination, not only in Kentucky, but 



284 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

also in other Western States. Thursday, April 25th, he left St. Louis 
for this purpose in a splendid steamer — the Western, Captain 
Price — making twelve miles an hour. How unlike the facilities 
of locomotion twenty-two years before, when he first traversed 
those waters ! He reached Louisville Sunday noon, and was 
cordially welcomed by his yoke-fellows Elliott and Waller, the 
pubHsher and editor of the Banner and Pioneer, and by other 
brethren. After remaining three or four days there he took the 
stage for Lexington, and was an active participant in the councils 
and proceedings of the convention, which was in session a number 
of days. He preached the opening sermon, and preached again on 
the Sabbath. • 

In regard to Bible operations, he records : " Find a concurrence 
among the brethren on leading principles. None are friendly to a 
new version of the English Scriptures. All agree that the first 
and paramount object should be, the foreign field, and that very 
little ought to be expended for home work, stereotype plates, etc. 
During this meeting. Rev. Dr. Noel, pastor of the Lexington 
Baptist church, a great and good man, died, and his funeral 
sermon was preached by Elder Buck, pastor of the first Baptist 
church in Louisville." 

Before the close of the meeting other subjects were discussed,' 
such as the union of the Banner and Pioneer, which was much ap- 
proved, ministerial education, but more especially the desirable- 
ness of a Western organization for home missions. Mr. Peck 
spoke at large on this subject, and thought it could be effected so as to 
move in entire harmony with the American Baptist Home Mission 
Society by a sort of partnership ; and that it would give much < 
energy and system to the cause in the Western and specially the 
Southwestern States, where much more extensive eflbrts are 
needed. 

While in Lexington, he was waited on by a committee to 
inquire if he would consent to receive an invitation to a 
pastorship in that city. He records his conviction of the im- 
portance and desirableness of the position, among wealthy, 
spirited, and liberal brethren. No doubt he felt some influence 
from these attractions ; but he remembered the destitution and 
greater need of his services in the field he had left behind 
him, and like a scripture worthy who was tempted by the 



ASSOCIATION — REVIVAL — BAPTIZING HIS SON. 285 

proffer of elevation, he responded, " I dwell among my own 
people." 

He advocated the cause of temperance and of colonization while 
there, and subsequently returned by the way of Georgetown, where 
he preached, and then, in Louisville and the adjacent towns in 
Indiana, he spent a Sabbath or two more, pleading the cause of 
Christ and of souls, and aiding in the incipient measiu-es for the 
formation of a new Baptist church. During all this period he was 
much in consultation and co-operation with J. L. Waller, the 
editor of the paper, in which, as the successor of his own " pet" 
which had engrossed for years so much of his time, care, and 
money, he felt a paternal interest. He reached home the 18th 
of May, in imperfect health, having suffered considerable during 
his whole journey from congestion of the liver, which was in 
danger of becoming chronic. Near the end of May the Edwards- 
ville Association held its annual session with the church at Eock 
Spring, his residence. The business occupied but little of the time, 
So that ample opportunity was gained for preaching, which was 
continued day and night with happy effect. A considerable 
revival was the direct result, in which two of his children and the 
hired girl were deeply impressed, and one or more of the number 
cherished hope of having passed from death to life. This was joy 
indeed to a loving and devoted father. He baptized on two occa- 
sions twenty-two in all, one of whom was his son William. 

On the 4th of July he delivered in Belleville an oration on the 
•principles and tendencies of democracy, meeting entirely the ap- 
probation of both political parties. He endeavored to show that 
gospel morality lies at the foundation of true democratic principles. 
A committee from each party requested its publication, with which 
he complied. One week later he set off with his old fellow-laborer, 
Rev. J. E. Welch, on a preaching tour in Missouri, which occupied 
a fortnight, and the following month, August, he rode one hundred 
and thirty-seven miles to attend the Clear Creek Association in 
Missouri. Was hospitably entertained during its session by an 
intelligent and liberal-minded man,^Mr. A., who kept a small distil- 
. lery to make whisky for his own use. He acknowledged that he loved 
it, and sometimes got drunk. His guest, availing himself of the 
man's frankness, gave him repeated and earnest admonitions during 
his sojourn ; the result was that he soon became an active, praying 
Christian, and of course put away his strange gods. Yea, much 
more than this was effected : the holy flame of converting grace 



286 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

becoming thus kindled, spread in different directions. In a foot- 
note, subsequently added to this part of his journal, it is stated 
that ''This revival spread through the country, and many pro- 
fessed Christ and were baptized. The churches took quite a dif- 
ferent course in regard to practical religion from this time, said to 
be caused principally by my very plain preaching. I preached 
under a pecuHar impulse, as for my Hfe, to both saint and sinner, 
and God blessed the word— his own word— abundantly. To him 
be all the praise I" 

On the 5th of September himself and wife started for a long tour 
through Central- and Northern Illinois and a corner of Northern In- 
diana into Michigan, partly for missionary labor and supervision and 
to visit his wife's relatives. First reached and attended the North 
District Association, held with the Salem church, Hamilton settle- 
ment, at a camp-ground, where during the night they were thor- 
oughly drenched with rain. By special appointment, and at the 
Instance of a number of the Methodist neighbors, Mr. Peck preached 
a long discourse on baptism. These Methodists said that they had 
heard repeated representations from their own ministers as to what 
the Baptists beheved and practiced, and they now desired to have 
th€ statement from themselves. This resulted in the sermon of 
two and a half hours above mentioned, which he preached from 
Acts ii. 37 to the end of the chapter. Six or eight of the Method- 
ist members left their society and were baptized before the end of 
the meeting. The whole journey above indicated was accompUshed 
not without the usual accompaniment of such tours, sundry break- 
downs, the loss of the right way in the woods and on the prairies, 
and specially many thorough wettings in the rains which were 
more than usually abundant for this season of the year. As often 
as possible he called on missionary and other ministering brethren, 
aided them in labors, counsels, and sympathy, and learned all he 
could of the existing and prospective religious condition of that 
extensive country. On this tour he made his first visit to Chicago, 
reaching that incipient city the end of September, and spending 
a Sabbath and several days with Brethren Hinton, the pastor, 
Dr. Boon, and others, and preaching several times. 

At Elgin, on Fox river, he attended another association 
(name not given) where by appointment he preached, giving 
a historical sketch of the origin, rise, and progress of the Bap- 
tists in Illinois. Then hurrying on his way by Ottawa towards 



FAILING HEALTH OF MR. PECK. 28*1 

Bloomington, where the Illinois Baptist State convention was 
about to meet, he was arrested by sickness, and confined for 
ten days, so that he failed entirely of reaching the convention, 
though having all the records and papers, so essential for 
their use, in his trunk. Then, soon as he was able to ride 
a little, he slowly moved on his weary way towards home 
through Newark, Ottawa, Yermillionville, Washington, Tre- 
mont, Delavan, to Springfield, where he stopped for a short 
time, and reached home near the end of October. The fol- 
lowing two days' entries in his journals are copied entire, as 
indicating the convictions he had reached in regard to himself, 
and the feelings with which life's survey was accompanied. 

October 29th. Eeached home and found all well. Quite fatigued. 
Learned the afflicting news that Charles Darrow (a valued neighbor) 
died yesterday, and was buried to-day. This is a heavy loss to our 
church and the neighborhood. After much serious reflection I 
have come to the conclusion that I must give up traveling and all 
missionary agency. I have now made trials for four seasons, and 
cannot sustain the fatigue, labor, and exposure. My liver is per- 
manently affected, my constitution seriously impaired, and I must 
retire to a more quiet and sedentary life. There is field enough for 
me to occupy around me, and Divine Providence will in some way 
provide for me. 

October 31st. This day I am fifty years old— turned half a cen- 
tury. When I look back, how short and frail a thing is life ! Not 
only my years are gone, but my physical powers have failed greatly 
within a few years past. I am now anvold man, and ought to regard 
myself as such, and be looking every day for my great change, O 
Lord, help me to consecrate myself to thy work and cause. Help 
me to live the rest of my feeble life to thy glory. 

Near the end of the following month a pleasant incident 
occurred, which illustrates very strikingly his Christian char- 
acter, and its results. A neighbor who had been an anti- 
mission Baptist minister, and both in that relation and as a 
politician had done Mr. Peck all the injury in his power, but 
towards whom our brother seems to have exercised the true 
Christian return of rendering good for evil to an uncommon 
extent, now summoned him to officiate at the marriage of his 



288 MEMOIR OF JOHN M, PECK. 

youngest daughter, and at the end of the ceremony handed 
him the unusual fee of fifty dollars, saying in the hearing of 
all the guests that it was because of his special respect for 
him. How blessed the privilege of thus overcoming evil with 
good I 

In furtherance of his plans to change somewhat the course of 
his hitherto very active life, he endeavored to put off some of his 
official cares and get others into liarness for hearing a portion of 
his public burdens. After exerting himself to the utmost to wind 
up his relations as general agent of the State convention and of the 
Home Mission Society, he made a somewhat detailed report of his 
last year's labors in these appointments, of which the summary 
shows that he had written two hundred and ninety-four letters on 
missionary affairs, visited and labored continuously in seventeen 
different churches, attended four associations, preached (on his 
mission field) sixty-four sermons, delivered thirty-eight lectures and 
addresses, baptized twenty-one converts, and traveled three thousand 
five hundred and twenty-eight miles, of which one thousand one 
hundred and eighteen were by steamboat and stage, and two thousand 
four hundred and ten by his horse. 

Looking forward to some other disposal of his time, he yielded 
to the solicitations of his neighbors in Belleville, and accepted the 
pastorship of that church in addition to the one at his residence, 
Rock Spring and Zoar. In this way he expected to have more 
than half his time disposed of in his own immediate neighborhood. 

The Belleville interest had sunk very low, though embracing 
valuable materials, and he set himself immediately to work for 
resuscitating it. For this purpose, in part, he announced a series 
of lectures on sacred history, thus striving to call out and interest 
the young men. The introductory of this course he delivered on 
Saturday evening, January 18th, 1840, "to as crowded an assembly 
as could get into the house, and many went away disappointed. 
It seemed to produce an excellent effect." In this and other feasible 
ways he was trying his utmost to prepare the way of the Lord, and 
gain the ear that he might win the heart of a worldly-minded com- 
munity. He immediately set about the systematic religious visiting 
of the families of his flock, and with these labors for Belleville, and 
somewhat similar efforts in the church at his residence, which had 
fallen into some disorder and coldness in his long and frequent 
absences, the early weeks of the year 1840 were fully occupied. 



ILLINOIS CONVENTION. 289 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Various Labors and Trials — Transfer to Louisville, Ky. 

It may be recollected that the illness of Mr. Peck pre- 
vented his reaching the place of meeting for the Illinois con- 
vention of Baptists in the autumn of 1839. Those who assem- 
bled on that occasion, without the aid and the records of the 
Secretary, proceeded to make some rather radical changes in 
the constitution of the convention and in the general opera- 
tions of an evangelizing character which it was seeking to 
carry forward. Proceeding, too, without the requisite caution 
and wisdom, what they attempted to accomplish was, in some 
cases at least, irregular and abnormal. When the minutes 
of their proceedings came into the hands- of the Secretary for 
the usual revision and publication, he at once perceived these 
unconstitutional proceedings, and so far as practicable cor- 
rected what he was sure was wrong in the hasty proceedings 
of the body. This gave offence in certain quarters, and at the 
meeting of the Board in the early spring, which also the 
Secretary failed to reach by reason of ill-health and bad 
traveling, a vote of censure was passed upon his action, and 
a communication forwarded to the Banner and Pioneer for 
insertion, reflecting rather harshly on his proceedings. No 
wonder that he, as principal founder of the convention, and 
the man who had been throughout the right-hand of its ope- 
rations, felt aggrieved by these proceedings, and earnestly 
remonstrated against them. This led to some unpleasant 
correspondence between the parties, in which, however, he 
appears to have preserved a happy degree of equanimity, and 
the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Eventually, the pro- 
ceedings which he complained of were all rescinded, and their 
record ordered to be struck from the minutes by a nearly or 
25 



290 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

quite unanimous vote. In reviewing these proceedings at 
this distance of time from their transaction, it may not be 
easy to say who was most in fault. But this incident shows 
most clearly how possible it is for very good brethren, aiming 
at the good of the same cause, to see things differently and 
how much allowance is due for human infirmity and mutual 
misconception. 

In the latter part of May, 1840, we find Mr. Peck setting 
forth for a month's absence from home for the double purpose 
of attending first the regular session of the Edwardsville Asso- 
ciation, meeting that year at Carlinville, and next proceeding 
across the country by land-route to Louisville, Ky., to meet 
the convention of Western Baptists. The association, though 
not very numerously attended, was a pleasant and satisfactory 
session. On the Lord's-day, the great day of the feast, Elder 
Hinton preached in the morning on the signs of Christ's 
coming. He enumerated seven distinct signs, which seem to 
have deeply interested our brother, and they are preserved 
with considerable fulness in his diary. Yery instructive and 
somewhat humiliating, too, is the review of these speculations 
now after twenty-four years have passed away. How impress- 
ively does it reiterate the wise and pithy sentiment of Sir Isaac 
Newton on this subject, that " the prophecies were not given 
to make us prophets, but the predictions were written down 
by inspiration of the Divine Omniscience that when they 
cOme to pass we may see and believe." There is, however, 
something very captivating to most minds in the startling and 
bold announcements put forth by writers and speakers on the 
prophecies yet to be fulfilled ; and when they bring, as the ingen- 
ious and enthusiastic always do, very plausible and apparently 
Scriptural reasons for their credence that some events of ab- 
sorbing and transcendent interest and importance are on the 
eve of fulfilment, how easily may they attract attention and 
deepen to profoundest deference a regard for their startling 
vaticinations. In not a few instances, within the last fifty 
or sixty years, have grave and learned doctors, as well as 
some bold empyrics of less respectable attainments, ventured 



STUDIES AND LECTURES ON THE PROPHESIES. 291 

most dogmatically to set the times and seasons for the events 
which are to be hereafter. And how mortifying generally 
have been their failures I It is easy to see that Mr. Peck, 
from about this period for several of the following years, was 
an enamored student of the prophecies. He prepared and 
delivered in several places a course of lectures on this subject, 
and his study of what pertains to it doubtless rendered him 
more familiar with prophetic symbols for the remainder of 
his life. 

Soon as the meetings of the association were concluded, in 
company with some others who had been in attendance with 
him, Mr. Peck set out for Kentucky. They traveled' 
through Yandalia, and stayed Over the Sabbath in Washing- 
ton, Ind., where they heard a political speech from Robert 
Dale Owen, and in course of their journey met with a large 
procession, in wagons and on horseback, going to a Harrison 
political gathering. On the 3d of June they reached Louis- 
ville, and found many brethren already assembled from the 
Eastern as well as from the Western States. 

Dr. Going was made President of the convention, and Dr. 
Lynd preached the opening sermon. The plan of a more 
efficient organization coming up, a committee was raised to 
report on the subject, of which Mr. Peck was chairm-an. 
After much deliberation this committee agreed to recommend 
the outlines of a constitution, to be published and referred 
for co'nsideration to the conventions and general associations 
of the Western States, and hold another general convention 
the next year, to act on the adoption of the proposed consti- 
tution as guided by the wishes of those appointing them. 
Foreign and home missions, the American and Foreign 
Bible Society interest, and a Western historical society, suc- 
cessively engaged the attention of the brethren assembled. 
The Lord's Supper was administered at the close of the 
services on the Sabbath in the second Baptist church, at 
which Drs. Going, Malcom, and others officiated. In subse- 
quent conferences Mr. Peck was solicited to revise the 
Social Hymn Book, most in use at the West and South, 



292 MEMOIR or JOHN M. PECK. 

called Dupuy's Hymn Book, by removing the doggerel and 
inserting good hymns in their places. To this proposition he 
acceded, and subsequently spent considerable time in their 
revision. 

He mentions securing a valuable collection of papers, minutes, 
manuscripts, and various materials for the Western Historical 
Society, of which he had been made Secretary ; and on Wednes- 
day, the 10th of June, he left Louisville on his return home. Spent 
the Sabbath in Black's settlement, Indiana, where he officiated, and 
aided in setting in order a new and promising Baptist church, or- 
daining deacons, etc. Tuesday following he preached by request 
in the court-house in Salem, Illinois, and two days after reached 
his home, after an absence of four weeks and one day. The 4th of 
July he deUvered an oration in Belleville, embracing the history of 
the conquest of Illinois by General G. R. Clark in 1778. 

In August and the early part of September "we find him engaged 
in promoting a revival at Bethel with his beloved brethren, the 
Lemens. A new house for religious worship bad been completed 
there. He preached at its dedication, and again soon after a 
funeral discourse for old Mother Lemen, in which he gave at much 
length a sketch of the early religious efforts in Illinois, and of the 
Lemen family. A blessed work of grace commenced and pro- 
gressed with much power. He witnessed the baptism of nine on 
one occasion, and a few days afterward of eight more, and still the 
work went on. At Silver Creek, also, where the Southern District 
Association was that year held, the church had erected a brick 
meeting-house, so far completed that it could be used, and after the 
business of the association was over, religious services were con- 
tinued with happy effect for several days and seven or eight were here 
baptized. Eeturning from the meeting, several cases of discipline 
of a rather painful character demanded attention in the church at 
Rock Spring. He mentions with evident feeUng that three of the 
professed converts whom he baptized there turned out badly. 
" They had been examined with carefulness, and all reasonable 
pains taken in their instruction, and yet how soon have they 
turned away to a course of profligacy !" He adds, *' I learn from 
this, that persons who have been trained to bad habits, and who 
have a peculiarly vicious mental organization, are not easily re- 
claimed." 

In October he attended the regular session of the Illinois Baptist 



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SERMON. 293 

Convention at Alton, where the adjustment of the difficulties 
growing out of the action of the previous year was happily con- 
summated, as mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. The 
affairs of the college and of education of ministers engrossed con- 
siderable attention, and was very fully considered. Rev. Mr. 
Hinton, of Chicago, had been elected President of the college, and 
measures were now set on foot to liquidate its debts, and provide 
for the suj)port of its faculty and its general efficiency hereafter. 
For the consummation of such an object Mr. Peck was induced to 
pledge a liberal sum. He says that though he was greatly em- 
barrassed, he felt that there was a necessity for this special effort 
and sacrifice, as the movement now made was regarded as a turn- 
ing point. On hearing a Brother Coles, a former pupil of his at 
Catskill, speak with great efficiency, he records his satisfaction that 
the disciple is much beyond his master. 

During the summer and autumn of this year he was also en- 
•gaged for many days in taking the United States census of St. Clair 
county. This brought him into minute, personal intercourse with 
every family, and furnished some amusement, especially among 
the French settlers about Cahokia, as well as many instructive in- 
cidents. It was while engaged in this service that he mentions 
hearing a Mormon preach in the court-house, and try to prove the 
truth of the Mormon book. He afterwards held considerable 
conversation with one of this community, whom he found very 
wild in his notions. He adds this general remark: "The worst 
evil from Mormonism is its influence in strengthening the scep- 
tical notions of unbelievers, by their ludicrous interpretations of 
Scripture." 

Early in January, 1841, we find him in Springfield, near the seat 
of government ; and while detained there for several days on public 
business, the following items are found in his journal. 

Saturday, January 3d. I am preparing to preach to-morrow 
three times ; in the afternoon in the state-house on a peculiar and 
somewhat hazardous subject, viz. : to apply some of the principles 
and methods of action in the late Presidential contest, to moral and 
religious uses. 

Lord's-day, ^d. p.m. Preached my projected discourse to a large 
congregation in the state-house. Text, Luke xvi. 8. Had toler- 
able liberty, and the people gave solemn attention. I inquired, 1. 
Who are the children of light ? 2. Who are the children of this 
world ? 3. In what sense are the cliildren of this world the wiser ? 



294 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

The principles and modes of action during the late Presidential 
contest furnished a principle illustrative of this third part. 

1. Look at the efforts made to enlighten the public mind. Politi- 
cal discussions, newspapers, handbills, pamphlets, and preaching or 
proclaiming, were all laid under contribution for this end. They 
took the right way, in harmony with God's appointed method in 
His kingdom. 

2. Notice the continuity of their efforts, meeting after meeting, 
at all seasons, in all places — protracted meetings truly. 

3. The parties selected times, places, seasons, and instruments 
wisely. Exchanged their orators in the most skillful manner, so 
as to excite and deepen the interest. 

4. By their untiring zeal they produced a great excitement 
through the nation. 

5. Their 'perseverance was unintermitted till the election was decided. 
In all the above respects they went far ahead of Christians in 

their endeavors to promote Christ's kingdom. 

II. Showed that the men of this world were wise only in their 
generation. How indifferent and neglectful they ate to the things 
of another world. For that, too, they had an election to make. 
Showed how they reproved themselves in their inactivity about 
eternal things. Applied the subject also to professors, and offered 
reproof for their supineness and inactivity. 

On the way as he was returning home, at Bunker Hill, in the 
southern part of Macoupen county, he preacned at the constitu- 
tion of a new Baptist church. In his own immediate neighbor- 
hood, in the churches of which he was pastor, he was indefatigable 
in his efforts to promote a genuine revival, and with some success, 
as the instances of baptism bore witness — seventeen on one 
occasion, March 6th. About this time also, the St. Louis church 
having become destitute by the resignation of their late pastor, 
Kev. Dr. Pattison, he was induced to promise to take the oversight 
of them, and supply their pulpit the second Sabbath in each month 
at least. Himself and Father Rogers soon held a protracted 
meeting there, with some happy effects. During all this period he 
continued an extensive correspondence, wrote editorials for the 
Banner and Pioneer, and made himself widely useful by his pen 
in other enterprises for the public good. 

In April, only a month after his accession to power, 
President Harrison died, the first instance of the death of an 
incumbent of his office since the organization of our national 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 295 

government. The sensation produced by this event was 
deep and universal, and he endeavored, in all the churches 
where he officiated, to improve it in the most efficient and 
salutary manner. In St. Louis especially, the municipal 
authorities set apart a day for public solemnities, on account 
of this national bereavement. The stores and offices were 
closed ; and a vast civic procession, consisting of all the 
various associations, religious, mechanic, literary, military, 
masonic, with a large concourse of citizens, marched through 
the streets, while bells were tolling, and minute guns were 
firing. At three o'clock all the churches were generally 
opened. Mr. Peck officiated in the Baptist church, delivering 
a discourse from Psalm xc. 3-12 to a crowded and very 
solemn assembly. 

Early in May he was enabled to sell, though at very con- 
siderable sacrifice, lots of land which he owned in Upper 
Alton, and thus pay off his most pressing debts. He re- 
garded this as a most welcome Providential relief, and records 
his gratitude for this favor at a time of great scarcity of 
money, and when his pecuniary involvements were most 
embarrassing. 

From the 2d to the 5th of June he was on board the 
steamer Ion, on his way from St. Louis to Louisville to attend 
the meeting of the convention of Western Baptists, which 
had been provided for in the arrangements of the preceding 
year. From the 9th to the 14th of the month this meeting 
continued its sessions, evincing at times considerable want of 
harmony from the earnest desires evinced on the part of some 
to sunder the ties between Western and Eastern Baptists m 
their benevolent organizations. After much discussion and 
the grave consideration of reports submitted on various topics, 
the result was that a Western Baptist publication and Sunday- 
school society was formed in strict co-operation with that in 
Philadelphia. Mr. Peck was mainly instrumental in securing 
this result, and his journal contains abundant evidence that 
he introduced and carried through this proposition, not be- 
cause he deemed it really the wisest and best course, but 



296 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

because he fo'und it was the only way in which a degree of 
harmony and co-operation could be secured, and the utter 
breaking off of a portion of the "\Vest from the East could be 
prevented. Having thus thrown himself into the threatened 
breach for the purpose of closing it, many of the better and 
more influential of the brethren immediately turned their 
eyes to him as the needed executive functionary of the new 
society. Accordingly its general agency was tendered to 
him by the Board elected for the purpose of setting it in 
operation, and before he left Louisville he had agreed to take 
into serious consideration the question of dropping his other 
engagements and giving himself chiefly to this service. His 
diary contains abundant evidence of the deep concern with 
which this proposal was weighed by him. Two principal 
objections seem to have had much influence with him. He 
could not but feel sad in view of turning away from the field 
and the labors which for so many years had engrossed him, 
where, though he had many trials and impediments, he also 
had enjoyed encouraging success, and now began to see the 
fruit of his manifold sacrifices and efforts in the wider and 
more inviting facilities opening before him for doing good 
through these instrumentalities — the churches, the college, 
and the convention, and education societies, which he had 
been mainly instrumental in originating. But the chief diffi- 
culty in accepting the appointment to the new post was his 
health, and the fear that he should soon break down in at- 
tempting so much travel as would be indispensable. True, 
he would be able to go more by comfortable public convey- 
ances than he had done hitherto, yet the whole business would 
be of the most laborious description. In view of all these 
difficulties, and with the urgent importunity of his brethren 
whom he had just met that he would not decline, he resolved 
on going home that he "would take tjme to weigh the subject 
well, and would also consult our leading brethren, both East 
and West, and endeavor finally to decide as may appear best 
for all concerned." 

The surprising versatility of his pen is manifested by his 



I' 



DRAMATIC COMPOSITION. 291 

writing a dramatic exercise about this time, called " Te- 
cumthe," which was elaborated by him with considerable 
care, and was actually presented in a college exhibition at 
Alton in July of this year.* The composition required very 
considerable knowledge of the astute Indian character, as 
well as that of the other personages introduced — the scheming 
British agent, and his subordinate, and the exposed pibneer 
settlers whose safety was so deeply involved in the questions 
then at issue. In all these respects the drama was a decided 
success, though from want of more experience in this kind of 
writing, it lacked the liveliness, and vivacious, life-like interest 
so indispensable to successful exhibitions on the stage. The 
marvel certainly is that with all his multifarious engagements, 
preaching every Sabbath and frequently in the week, writing 
for some half a dozen periodicals — some of his articles very 
elaborate and extensive, such, for instance, as his contributions 
about this time to the American Quarterly Register of Boston 
on the history and statistics of the Baptist denomination in 
each of the Western States — with many other cares and 
labors, domestic and pastoral, that he could have found 
time to contribute to the drama at all. His facility of com- 
position, and the readiness with which he could turn from 
one thing to another so widely dissimilar, was truly won- 
derful. 

On the 24th of September he wrote to the Secretary of the 
Western Publication Society, Louisville, accepting the gen- 
eral agency. This decisive step involves so much of responsi- 
bility that it seems but just to him to give the reasons he 
assigned at the time for taking it. He says : 

After a pretty extensive correspondence East, West, North and 
South, I have arrived at this conclusion : that 'unless I do take 
hold of the general agency of this organization, the American 
Baptist Publication Society will do very little. The field in the 

•* Mr. Peck was present at the exhibition, and says it was well 
spoken, though it must have suffered much from lack of appro- 
priate costumes and scenery on which the real drama, as distinct 
from the mere dialogue, so much depends. 



298 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

"West and South is the main place of operation, because its wants 
are here more directly felt and its necessity appreciated. Here, 
also, a very large part of the labor has to be performed. Our 
"Western society will do nothing efficiently unless I take hold of it. 
Moreover, all to whom I have written, and who have answered my 
inquiries, say in substance that I am the man, and ought to engage 
in this work. The condition of the denomination in the West and 
South now calls for the free and extensive circulation of religious 
books. Various indications of Providence in opening my way and 
removing difficulties seem to point out the pathway of duty in this 
direction. Whether I can endure the exposure and fatigue neces- 
sarily involved, and sustain health, is to be tested by experience. 
My hopes are that by steamboat and stage traveling, by spending 
the winters South, and the summers North, and having comfortable 
houses to lodge in, I may keep up a few years longer. This cer- 
tainly is the greatest and most responsible business I have ever 
undertaken. May the Good One direct and keep me, and allow me 
to fill up the balance of my hfe with usefulness. 

Immediately he tendered his resignation as pastor of the 
churches he had served, and was happily instrumental in 
leading some of them to the choice of his successor. 

Early in October he attended the Illinois Baptist conven- 
tion, meeting that year at Paysan. He was chosen President, 
and every honor which afifection and fraternal confidence and 
gratitude prompted was tendered him. He preached during 
the session, and took occasion to contrast the present flourish- 
ing aspects of their affairs with what he had witnessed on 
the same field in former years. Especially did he strive — 
and successfully too — to enlist them in the new enterprise in 
which he was engaging. Many life-memberships were sub- 
cribed, and the object was embraced cordially, with the pros- 
pect that it would be prosecuted with vigor. About the same 
time he mentions having written to the general associations 
of Kentucky and Tennessee and the convention of Indiana to 
enlist them in this enterprise. 

Eeturning from the convention he spent some few days in Quincy 
and its neighborhood, visiting with special interest a number of mis- 
Bion institutes, or manual-labor schools, there established by Rev. 



AGENT OF WESTERN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 299 

David Nelson. He found about sixty students, male and female, in 
the two which he examined. The men were designed for mission- 
aries, and many of them sustained themselves or nearly so by work. 
He could not but condemn the fanaticism which he thought preva- 
lent, while at the same time he found much to commend. He 
says: "Nearly every species of ultraism springs up here as from 
a hotbed. The j^ractice of what is called free discussion keeps the 
students in a continual excitement which forbids cahn and deliber- 
ate investigation, and prevents the formation of a sound mind." 
He formed the acquaintance of a few Baptist students among them 
who had apparently been injured in this way. 

With different feeUngs he visited his old friend, Governor Carhn, 
and held witllPhim a long and interesting conversation on personal 
rehgion. The Governor manifested much devotedness and deep 
feeling, declaring, among other things, that no man can be a par- 
tisan politician and maintain a Christian character. 

On his way to Kentucky he aided in the ordination of a worthy 
colored brother, Anderson, belonging to the African Baptist church 
in St. Louis, and preached the sermon, and remarks of this brother 
that he passed a very good examination. It was near the middle 
of November before he reached Louisville, and took his head-quar- 
ters there for the purpose of carrying on with the utmost vigor the 
plans of the new society. For a while he lodged, by his own desire 
and preference, in the editorial office of the Banner and Pioneer, 
of which paper he continued to be a kind of assistant-editor. He 
also preached very often both on the Sabbaths and on week even- 
ings in the Baptist churches in Louisville. Soon as arrangements 
for this purpose could be completed, he visited Cincinnati and 
Covington in furtherance of his agency ; and on returning, after 
spending a few days more in Louisville, putting in order and sup- 
plying as well as he could the things which were wanting, he set 
forth on a tour through the Southwest. In the Green river country 
he lingered some days, laboring for the diffusion of information on 
his agency, and "securing the first fruits of the bounty of both 
churches and individuals. By the close of the year he had reached 
Nashville, Tenn., which he now visited for the first time, and 
found a most cordial welcome at the City Hotel, then kept by the 
excellent and lamented Colonel Marshall 



300 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Slave Sale — Visit to New Orleans and Mississippi, and again goes to 
Eastern States. * 

The first half of 1842 was maeea crowded with events of 
stirring and, some of them, permanent interest in the life of 
this active man. Some of the more important of them will 
be gleaned from his journals and letters, so as tf furnish the 
outlines of his eventful history. In Nashville, on New- 
Year's day, the following item occurs : 

To-day I attended for a few moments a sale in the market- 
place. A negro boy was sold, who appeared about twelve years 
old. He stood by the auctioneer on the market-bench, with his 
hat off, crying and sobbing, his countenance a picture of woe. I 
know not the circumstances ; but it was the first human being I 
ever saw set up for sale, and it filled me with indescribable emotions. 
Slavery in Tennessee is certainly not as oppressive, inhuman and 
depressing, as the state of the poorer classes of society in England, 
Ireland, and many parts of Continental Europe ; yet slavery in its 
best state is a violation of man's nature and of the Christian law of 
love. I mean as a state or condition of society ; for doubtless there 
are individual cases where the slaves are truly better off than if 
they were set free, and remained in this country. 

For the next three weeks he remained in Nashville, or its imme- 
diate vicinity, his health some of the time rather imperfect, but he 
was able to preach, or otherwise address churches and congrega- 
tions very frequently, averaging nearly one sermon or address 
each day, promotive of the revival of religion or of his benevolent 
object. He was also a laborious writer, sending forth from his 
chamber at the hotel almost every day, letters, circulars, reports, 
or communications for the press, enough to fill up the entire time 
of an ordinary man. He then made an excursion into Wilson 
county, visiting as many churches and prominent individuals as 
possible, to enlist their convictions, and call forth their contribu- 
tions for the Publication Society. On his return, February 1st, 
he called on General Jackson at the Hermitage, and was welcomed 



VISIT TO TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI. 301 

with warm favor and interest by this distinguished man. The 
General was in feeble health, warm and excited on political subjects, 
but evincing a calm, intelligent, and considerate concern for tho 
religious welfare of himself and his countrymen, and hence enter- 
ing with cordiaUty into the object of Mr. Peck's mission among 
the churches, and at the close of the interview wishing him God- 
speed. With emphasis and iteration he thanked his visitor for 
calling on him, and on parting said, " The Lord go with you." 

The legislature of Tennessee was in session while he was in Nash- 
ville, and occasionally he looked in upon their deliberations. With 
several of the members, too, he formed an interesting acquaintance. 
This body adjourned just about the time he was leaving the State, 
the 7th of February, and several whom he names were his travel- 
ing companions on board the steamer on which he embarked on 
his way to New Orleans. lie had opportunity further to cultivate 
their acquaintance as his fellow-passengers; and also as the 
steamer touched and sometimes laid by for several hours, he 
landed at Clarksville, and made a speech at a temperance meeting ; 
at Ashportin West Tennessee, and again at Vicksburg in Mississippi. 
Below this point Mr. Peck became greatly interested in the great 
river, its " coasts," as the high levee banks are here called ; in the 
milder climate and earlier foliage and bloom of the trees, which, in 
his rapid passage to the south at that season of the year, very strik- 
ingly impressed him. The plantations lining the river on both sides 
like a continued village, with occasionally a Catholic church lifting 
its spire and cross, were all features of novel interest to him. 

The 14th of February he, for the first time, set foot in New 
Orleans. He spent now but two or three days in the city, finding 
the Baptist cause there lamentably low, and that very little could 
be done in furtherance of the object he was laboring to promote. 
He called upon the Baptist minister who was then officiating there, 
and upon Cornelius Paulding, an eccentric and wealthy Baptist 
professor, of whose peculiarities he seems to have formed a toler- 
ably correct estimate. 

Eeturning up the river, the steamer in which he was a passenger 
had a race with a competitor, and a collision too, but without much 
injury except the severe fright of the lady passengers. He landed 
at Port Hudson and took the railroad to Clinton, La., where, and 
in the vicinity, he spent the next two weeks, preaching, lecturing, 
and conferring with influential friends, several of whom became 
warmly interested in his object. He preached to whites and to 
slaves, visited some of the latter in their quarters, especially the 
20 



302 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

sick, attended some funerals among them, and evinced an earnest 
desire to make himself as thoroughly acquainted with plantation 
affairs as possible. • 

The masters and proprietors were his guides, and he, as 
their privileged guest, saw just as much and through such 
a medium as they desired. He makes no comments at the 
time ; and it is not strange that his subsequent recollections 
are largely tinged with the favorable aspect in which the 
peculiar institution was presented to his notice. 

Returning to the river, he found passage, after some delay, to 
Ticksburg, and thence by railroad to Jackson, the seat of govern- 
ment of Mississippi. Here, and in several Baptist churches in the 
vicinity, he spent some days profitably and wisely. Brethren of 
intelligence and liberality were found, who appreciated the noble 
object he was solicting for, and generously aided his enterprise. 
The names of Lea, Granbury, Denson, Balfour, Whitfield, and ex- 
Governor Runnells, with others, appear in his journal as those 
whose sympathies and co-operation he had secured. Others in 
Yicksburg of the same character were also mentioned : such as 
Ranney, Sparkes, and Bond, whom he saw and loved for the truth's 
sake, both as he went and returned. It was also agreed to raise 
two hundred dollars to establish a depository of the books and 
tracts of the Publication Society in Jackson for the accommo- 
dation of the State of Mississippi. 

On the evening of the 21st of March he got on board a steamer 
for St. Louis, and after a rapid and pleasant passage reached that 
city on the 25th. Here he rejoiced to find the Baptist cause flour- 
ishing, and the following evening he reached his home at Rock 
Spring, finding his family well and prospering after an absence on 
his part of three and a half months. He found to his great joy 
that the work of the Lord had cheeringly progressed in the 
churches which he used to serve. In the Belleville church thirty 
had been hopefully converted, and twenty of them baptized. Here 
and at Rock Spring and at Bethel with his beloved brethren, the 
Lomens, he spent a few days most delightfully and profitably, and 
seemed much refreshed by the pious and fraternal sympathy which 
was manifested towards him, and the object to which he was now 
devoting his labors. At Upper and Lower Alton also he met with 
the hke favor ; and having adjusted his most important business, 
domestic and public, on the 9th of xipril, he set forth for another 
long Eastern tour. Spent a Sabbath in St. Louis, preaching for 






CHARLES DICKENS — AGAIN VISITS THE EAST. 303 

the white Baptist church in the morning, for the colored in the 
afternoon (recounting with much tender feeling on both sides the 
way the Lord had led them for more than twenty years), and in 
the evening he officiated in the second Presbyterian church, whose 
pastor was absent, and he mentions incidentally that the first and 
second Presbyterian churches— the New and Old school— like the 
Jews and Samaritans of old, have no religious intercourse with 
each other, though both are clamorous for " open communion." 

The following morning he took passage by steamer for Pittsburg, 
paying only twelve dollars for the trip — one cent per mile, with 
excellent fare. The cheapest traveling, he says, which he had ever 
known. The same day, before the boat left, he and Rev. Mr. Hinton 
called on Charles Dickens, then in St. Louis, on his tour through 
the United States. He appeared to be a remarkably good-natured, 
amiable, benevolent man, very much like the spirit of his stories. 
He_statad that he had been educated by a Baptist clergyman. Mr. 
Peck afterward sent himlwo of his books, " Guide for Emigrants," 
and " Traveler's Directory." The trip, per steamer, seems to have 
been unusually pleasant, affording him a few hours time for calls on 
his brethren both at Louisville and at Cincinnati, which he gladly 
embraced. Reached Pittsburg on the 19th, and found a good 
hotel near the landing, at which for dinner, supper, room with fire, 
and attendance, the charge was only seventy-five cents. Hence to 
Philadelphia, by canal and railroad, stopping over the Sabbath in 
Harrisburg, where he preached twice, and Monday afternoon reached 
Philadelphia. The following day he went to New York, where the 
Baptist anniversaries were then commencing. During the meeting 
he mentions having made a long address before the Publication 
Society, setting forth its claims on ministers and churches, which 
was listened to with interest, and produced, as he thought, a good 
effect. He also alludes to his having served on a committee in 
reference to Indian missions, and particularly the relations of Rev. 
Isaac McCoy to the Board, which involved matters which were not 
a Uttle perplexing. This meeting with so many of the loved 
associates of former years was not a small item in the gratification 
which he now experienced. Particularly one evening which he 
spent with Rev. A. Perkins, then a pastor in New York city, in 
company with Rev. Lewis Leonard, he says, " Much of the old 
times when we three were associated in Dutchess county in 1814- 
15 was vividly revived in our recollection." The various meetings, 
both denominational and general, which he attended seem to have 
afforded him considerable satisfaction, and early m May he left 



304 MEiMOlR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

New York on his return to Philadelphia, stopping as usual a night 
in Burlington with his old and dear friend, J. E. Welch, and family. 
He preached here also in behalf of his object, and endeavored to 
awaken the liberality of the church to make their pastor a life- 
member of the Publication Society. The next day he met the 
Board of this society in Philadelphia, and by their request gave them, 
at full length, his impressions of what ought to be done by them, and 
how to do it. His whole plan laid before them was looked into by 
a special committee and subsequently adopted. The following is 
his record of what he found, and what he recommended : 

" I find that the brethren in Philadelphia have done but little com- 
paratively in this cause. There has not been quite enough of har- 
mony and mutual concert. Petty jealousies and rivalships about 
officers and Httle matters have retarded the business. Yet, with 
sufficient effort and patient perseverance, the society can be made 
to live. I suggested a delegation to Boston to enter into arrange- 
ments with the New England Sunday-school Union to raise a sum 
of two thousand dollars to circulate Sunday-school books in the 
valley of the Mississippi through the Publication Society and its 
agency. Another suggestion was to negotiate with the Baptist 
Library and the Baptist Memorial to secure a co-operation with 
those who are interested in those publications." A delegation to 
New England, of which he was one, was accordingly appointed. 

On his Way East he spent a Lord's-day in New York, and came 
in contact with the celebrated Miller (who gave name to the 
Millerites, or Adventists), and heard him deliver one of his lectures. 
" He believes that Jesus Christ is to descend from heaven, and 
reign personally on this earth, and that the saints ^e to be raised 
and the judgment to set in 1843— next year. This calculation he 
bases upon his interpretation of the prophetical period of one 
thousand two hundred and sixty days. This morning his lecture 
was concerning the two witnesses (Rev. xi. 3, 4), which he supposes, 
and with much ingenuity seemed to prove, were the Old and the 
New Testament, the Word of God. There is plausibility in this as 
the right interpretation. Much of his discourse was solemn and 
impressive. He is undoubtedly sincere ; but like other men whose 
whole physical ^nd mental system has become excited, he is very 
sensitive, very positive, and will not bear to be contradicted or 
argued against. Evidently to my mind there is a degree of mono- 
mania about him, as there is about every one who dwells so in- 
tensely and exclusively on one idea. I introduced myself, and codp 



ANiNlVERSARlES AT NEW YORK AND BOSTON. 305 

versed with him a short time. He and his associate Adventists are 
now holding a series of meetings in this city." 

He preached in two Baptist churches on the Sabbath, and the 
following week gave" himself up to attending the general anni- 
versaries. The Old or Garrison Abohtionists, he thought were 
monomaniacs; for if their principles were fully carried out, all gov- 
ernment, authority, and rule, would be broken up. The Sunday- 
school anniversary was dehghtful. The American Tract Society 
gave him an opportunity to plead fifteen minutes for the great 
West. Here also he heard and was introduced to Mar Yohannan, 
Bishop of the Nestorians in Persia, whose address in Syriac was 
translated to the audience by the Rev. J. Perkins, who also gave many 
interesting facts in relation to the Nestorians. The following day 
at the anniversary of the American Bible Society, Mar Yohannan 
appeared again, presenting a Syriac New Testament written on 
parchment more than six hundred years old. In like manner he 
witnessed with interest the exhibition of the deaf mutes and tem- 
perance and colonization meetings. In a more private way he 
visited the rooms of the American and Foreign Bible and the Bap- 
tist Home Mission Societies, conferring with their executive ofi&cers, 
and contriving ways and means for their enlarged usefulness and 
efiiciency. Another Sabbath he spent in Brooklyn, pleading his 
cause before several churches there. 

In Boston, whither he went the next week, he was welcomed by 
his old friend. Dr. ShurtlefF, the generous patron of the college at 
Alton, III, and for two or three days gave himself up to attending ' 
on an anti-slavery Baptist convention, against many of whose doings 
and speeches he in vain remonstrated. May 2l3t he attended a 
meeting of the Board of the New England Sunday-school Union, 
and laid before the brethren the project of aiding by a special fund 
our Western operations. The plan was referred to a special com- 
mittee. 

On Lord's-day, after officiating in one of the Baptist churches, 
he had an appointment in another (Baldwin Place), and had entered 
the pulpit for its fulfillment, when he was suddenly seized with a 
severe spasm, which made it impossible for him to preach. By 
timely and vigorous treatment he soon recovered. Next day he 
met again the Board of the New England Sunday-school Union, 
who declined his overture, on the ground that they could not get 
the requisite funds. Though this was a grievous disappointment 
to him, yet it is pleasant to notice the equanimity of spirit with 
which he received the announcement, and the undiminished love 



306 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

With which he stiU clung to his brethren and labored and coun- 
seled with them for the promotion of their objects, while they 
declmed co-operating to secure his. Particularly it may be no 
ticed that he was invited to address the anniversary audience 
ot the ISew England Sunday-school Union, and there urged that 
they needed a fund of ten thousand dollars, to be raised and used 
in Aew England for issuing books, which were now very necessary 
m all parts of our country. In hke manner he addressed the anni- 
versary meeting of the Northern Baptist Education Society and 
spoke on their theme, particularly with reference to the mighty 
West, givmg facts in regard to their ministerial education, the 
states of colleges and schools, all of which was hstened to with 
much interest. At the ministerial tea-party in the lecture-room 
of one of the churches, he gave by request some account of two 
of the deceased pioneers of the West-Elder John Clarke and 
o. Lt. Holman. 

One evening he went as a listener to the advent-meeting, and 
heard one of their lectures, on which he makes this comment- "A 
chart was used containing a representation of the prophetic sym- 
bols, m the Book of Daniel, in painting. Most of what the lecturer 
said m his definitions was correct, but the application was wholly 
incorrect. The grand error of the Miller system is, that it employs 
symbolical language correctly as to past prophecy, and then inter- 
prets the symbols which relate to the conquests of Christ and the 
setting up of his Kingdom hterally. It is this confusion of the 
sijmhohcal and the literal which produces the wrong and mislead- 
ing results." 

His great effort for the week, however, was the closing address 
before the Massachusetts Baptist Convention-the successor of 
the old Massachusetts Missionary Society, under whose commis- 
sion he had so many years labored. His principal design was to 
show the effect of missionary operations on the Western valley for 
seventeen years past, as follows : 

1. In giving great encouragement to missionary friends there 

2. In calhng out ministers from the influence of the world en- 
abling them to acquire correct views and habits, and by emplovin- 
to enlarge their talents. ^ J »» 

3. In raising up, and sustaining, while feeble, churches in the 
imporlant towns and cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Marietta, and" 
Columbus, in Ohio; Covington, Louisville, and other places in 
Kentucky; Xashville, in Tennessee; St. Louis, Alton, Springfield. 
Chicago, Detroit, in the farther West and Northwest " 



ADDRESS IN BOSTON — HUDSON EIVER ASSOCIATION. 307 

4. In waking up the churches and people throughout the whole 
valley, to provide for, and sustain their own ministry. 

5. In raising up ministers, and sustaining all other benevolent 
measures. 

6. In producing organization and system in benevolent opera- 
tions generally. 

7. In promoting revivals extensively, and numerous conversions, 
so that Baptists had doubled in the West within eight years. 

8. In the advancement, very generally, of religion, morals, edu- 
cation, colleges and schools. 

9. In uncovering the still great destitution, and making it more 
widely known. The resident population doubles, in ten years, so 
that one hundred missionaries were now wanted, and a very great 
work yet remained to be done. 

In conclusion, gave two reasons why this work has increased so 
greatly ; 

1. The rapid increase of population and extension of occupied 
territory ; and this, on the whole, best for our country and the 
world. 

2. An increasing appetite or desire thus formed for missionary 
service, even among Germans, Catholics, and others. 

After the close of these Boston anniversaries, he thus sums up 
the state of things and the prospects, so far as his own immediate 
objects were concerned. Owing to the plans and arrangements of 
the Na«7 England Sunday-school Union, the prospect of raising 
funds for publication purposes is but meager. I must direct my 
labors to New York and the Middle States chiefly. 

He preached, however, in several pulpits in Boston, Lynn, Mai- 
den, and then in Hartford, after which he attended the Connecticut 
Baptist State Convention, at Middletown, where he explained and 
pleaded his publication objects with happy effect. 

Then he hastened through New York city to Poughkeepsie, to 
attend the Hudson Eiver Association, which, he remarks, had be- 
come an immense body of forty-five churches, and nearly ten thou- 
sand communicants. What a change had twenty-seven years 
wrought, since its formation at the same place I He was much 
pleased with the aspect of things which he witnessed. Most of the 
churches had been largely increased the preceding year, the aggre- 
gate of additions by baptism being more than eleven hundred. The 
evening of the second day he addressed his brethren on his publi- 
cation cause, and there appeared to be much interest excited. 

The following day he listened to the closing sermon before the 



308 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

association, by Dr. William R. Williams, reviewing the Baptist 
history for the last fifty years, and contemplating particularly the 
Influences, internal and external, which had so rapidly increased 
their numbers and effectiveness. He well characterizes it as a 
splendid sermon, by a masterly hand. It has been widely published, 
and the analysis of it contained in his journal need not here be re- 
produced. 

The day following he attended an ordination in the interior of 
Dutchess county, and remarked on the sermon — by one of the 
pastors in that county — that it was exactly a Kentucky or Western 
sermon in style, spirit, language, and mode of illustration. The 
preacher had certainly never been at the West, and this similarity 
therefore was the more pleasing, showing as it did how certain it 
is that earnest minds, in their original and untrained manifestations, 
will be found nearly assimilated. On this occasion, also, he im- 
proved a favorable opportunity to address the large congregation 
assembled, in behalf of the Western Publication Society. 

The next few days and Sabbaths he devoted to New York city, 
conferring with the pastors and preaching in as many churches as 
possible, on the subject so near his heart, and with which he was 
now officially charged. In the intervals of public service and 
private conference he was writing extensively on the same subject 
to influential brethren, throughout the Middle and Western States 
especially. The confidence reposed in him and his judgment by 
the Board of the American Baptist Publication Society, Philadel- 
phia, and specially by its excellent secretary. Rev. Morgan J. 
Rhees, drew forth from him long and carefully considered letters 
to them, in which all the possibilities of ways and means for carry- 
ing forward their enterprise were fully discussed. Indeed, his 
mission to New England t this time had that object chiefly 
in view, to settle the question whether both East and West 
could not be induced cordially to co-operate in one national society 
for the promotion of the object, which, as it seemed to him, ought 
to be dear to every intelligent Baptist, viz. : the diflFusion of Bible 
or gospel truth widely as possible among all our churches and their 
surroundings, for the double purpose, first, of making all our mem- 
bership more intelligent, united and harmonious in faith and 
practice ; and next, to disabuse the minds of the uninformed 
masses in regard to our real views, removing those monstrous 
perversions which have been so industriously circulated to our dis- 
advantage, and in derogation of our just claims to be reckoned an 
important integral portion of the great evangelical brotherhood. 



"■•«»v^ 



SOUNDING THE CHURCHES. 309 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

Testing tlie Churches in regard to Publication Society — Ministers* 
Meeting in his own House. 

The next eight months, from the closing days of June, 1842, 
till April of the following year, he was most of the time 
busily engaged, traveling much of the earlier part of this 
period among the churches, with a view of sounding their 
sentiments, and inciting their more systematic action on this 
publication subject. Having no doubt himself that such a 
denominational organization w^as needful, he quietly moved 
among his brethren and the churches, determined to test their 
convictions on this subject. It was no easy matter to induce 
many of these to give sufficient heed to a great practical meas- 
ure of this kind to enable them to settle it satisfactorily. So 
many local interests were demanding aid, and so slow of heart 
were the majority of the churches to co-operate in the other gen- 
eral societies for foreign and home missions and the diflfusion 
of God's word, that it is no wonder he was sometimes led to 
doubt w^hethcr another general object of denominational be- 
nevolence would secure a sufficient amount or degree of 
favor to make it worth his w^hile to leave other spheres of 
labor which were inviting his acceptance, and give himself to 
the promotion of this. 

His Western and Southwestern tour had fully satisfied him 
that a Western publication society by itself would be too mea- 
ger in resources to accomplish the desired object. It only 
remained to test the question whether such a combination of 
East and West, of North and South, in what would be sub- 
stantially one Baptist Publication Society, would unite the 
suffrages and call forth the liberality of the churches to such 
an extent as to measurably insure success. He knew of no 
other way of testing this than by actually visiting as widely 



310 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

as possible among the churches and associations, and learning 
whether they would be willing, in view of the facts which 
he spread before them, to take hold of this work systematically, 
making this one of the cherished objects of their benevolent 
endeavors, and giving it year after year a regularly assigned 
place among their charities. 

To test this matter as practicably and reliably as possible, 
he spent about four months continuously in the Middle States, 
and chiefly in Xew York. 

Before setting out on this mission he met, while yet in 
New York city, with one of those rebuffs which so often and 
injuriously affect the course of public men. Taking up one 
morning the Banner and Pioneer, the religious paper of the 
West, which still kept his name on it as one of its editors, he 
there saw a series of resolutions directly and somewhat 
severely censuring him for leaving the Western agency with 
which he had been commissioned, to labor in the publication 
cause of the East. This he regarded as the more cruel, be- 
cause the very man who was the mainspring and organ of 
this attack upon him was his professed friend and co-adju- 
tor. He sat down at once and wrote him a feeling letter, set- 
ting forth the unkind and unchristian course which he had 
thus pursued against him. Confident, as he says, that his 
own course had been right, and that the Board of the Western 
society through this man's influence had been wrong, he de- 
termined to continue his labors as though this unpleasant 
transaction had not occurred, and on his return West have it 
adjusted correctly. Meekly enough he subjoins, '' Most men 
in my circumstances would resign at once, thus producing 
a family quarrel, but I do not think it is expedient." It is 
very gratifying to know that Mr. Peck's favorable anticipa- 
tions in this case were fully realized. In October following, 
the same Board which now had censured him reversed their 
action, and thus this storm blew over innocuous. Something 
is to be learned from this case, however, both by general 
agents and directing boards ; and very happy will it be for 
both when they so adjust all matters of mutual conference 



NEW YORK ASSOCIATIONS — HAMILTON SEMINARY. 311 

and control as to spare one another such damaging manifesta- 
tions of antagonism. 

Cheerfully as though nothing had occurred to dampen his 
ardor, he set forth the very next week to meet the associa- 
tions, whose annual sessions continued week after week for 
most of the remainder of the summer and early autumn. He 
had prepared and printed a little tract of eight pages, by 
distributing which among the pastors and delegates at their 
anniversaries, he was enabled to present many important 
facts in a more consecutive and permanent form than by an 
oral address, and leave him at liberty, when preaching or 
speaking in behalf of his object, to give more space to the 
utterance of truths connected with the common salvation, and 
the very marrow of the gospel of Christ. In these visits to 
associations throughout his whole circuit, reaching almost to 
the west and south of New York, and quite through the 
centre, the east and north of the State, he was accompanied 
by Rev. Lewis Leonard, his old friend of former years, who 
pleaded the cause of the State Convention, and part of the time 
by the veteran Dr. Kcndrick, who earnestly solicited the aid 
of the churches for the education cause. With these men 
and their objects he most cordially co-operated ; and it is 
pleasant to notice in his journal with what interest he listened 
to the good and grave doctor, and how many of his different 
sermons (all brought to the same practical point however) 
Mr. Peck preserved an analysis of, and seems to have 
treasured up with the highest satisfaction. 

His remarks on the state of the churches and ministers as 
compared with those in the West, together with some incidents 
which he met with, developing matters of a more general 
character, might give some variety and additional interest to 
this part of the chapter, but space cannot be allowed for them. 

He witnessed the anniversary exercises at Hamilton, 
where eighteen young men, who had finished their course of 
studies, were sent forth, with the benedictions of their pro- 
fessors and the prayers of the churches, to engage in their 
great woi'k. Intensely interesting was the scene to him, for 



312 , MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

several were going to the West for which he had pleaded so 
long. Two to western Pennsylvania, one to Tennessee, and 
another to Wisconsin. 

In the same neighborhood, a few days later, he listened to 
a lecture by a Kev. Mr. Storrs, now a zealous Millerite, and, 
as Mr. Peck says : 

" Quite enthusiastic in the belief that Jesus Christ is coming next 
year to raise the saints and burn the world, and that he will dwell 
on earth one thousand years. He was severe on the clergy, as he 
called all those ministers who will not receive fully and examine 
his dogmata. He represented them and their members who 
adhered to them as foolish virgins, not willing to see their Lord. 
Now I regard this doctrine of a personal reign of Christ on earth, 
after the present inhabitants are destroyed and all generations of 
men cease, as exceedingly dishonorable to the Son of God in his 
mediatorial kingdom. The fair representation in regard to these 
men is, that finding the impossibility of converting or reforming 
the world with all their intense and alarming messages, they 
therefore conclude that it must be destroyed ! This lecturer is 
quite sincere, probably, and he has fully converted to his theory 
the pastor of the Welch Baptist church in Utica." 

Incidentally Mr. Peck mentions the cheapness and comfort he 
found in traveling on the canal from Utica to Rochester, two hun- 
dred miles, for two dollars, good board included. In the latter city 
he devoted an evening to listening to the notorious Abby Kelly. 
Her speech and the others which he then heard, he says, " Were 
characterized by violent gesticulation, rant, denunciation, and 
especially the abuse of ministers and all organized churches. There 
was a singular mixture of fanaticism, Quakerism, Unitarianism, and 
infidelity, with ultraism of various hues, in all their speeches. Such 
measures as they advocate can never free the poor slaves ; and their 
tendency to unhinge society is obvious and appaling." Occasioned 
probably by what was now passing around him, he wrote, while on 
his journey, a series of editorial articles for the Banner and 
Pioneer on " Ultraism." He seems to have found the associations 
which he was able to attend generally harmonious, and imbued 
with a good spirit. For the most part they very cordially wel- 
comed the object for which he was now pleading. Many of the 
dear old friends whom he had known twenty-five or thirty years 
before, now welcomed him to their hearts and houses with grateful 



CROTON WATER WORKS—WESTERN ANNIVERSARIES. 313 

cordiality. Among these he specially mentions Elder Harvey, by 
Tvhose hand he put on Christ in baptism, more than thirty years 

before. 

Near the end of September he found it practicable to gratify his 
desire of once more visiting his birthplace in Connecticut, and 
calling on a large number of old neighbors and friends, by whom 
he seems to have been welcomed with the utmost cordiality. After 
three or four days delightfully spent in their society, each recount- 
ing the way the Lord had led them for so many years, he took 
what he then expected, and indeed proved to be, his final fareweU 
both of the place and people. The following Sabbath he spent m 
Amenia with the church which he left a third of a century before, 
to prepare for his mission labors. A new generation had arisen; 
but he found a few of the families of his former flock delighted to 
see and hear him once more. All of the congregation, indeed, 
knew him well by the report of their fathers and mothers, if not 
in person ; and to them, by their common desire, he recounted 
with deep interest the way his Lord had led him so many "years 
in the wilderness, to humble him, and prove him, and to see 
whether he would follow the Lord or not." The state of the West 
he also portrayed before them in a kind of living imagery, which 
seemed to set all the objects of greatest interest in a clear and 
satisfactory light. • 

In the middle of October he attended in New York city the celebra- 
tion of the completion of the Cwton Water Works, the most Hercu- 
lean enterprise, he thinks, ever attempted in this country. As a 
temperance man and advocate, one of the most delightful and notice- 
able characteristics of that immense gathering was the almost 
universal prevalence of the temperance reformation. Of all the 
miles of procession, and the acres of people who were mere 
spectators, scarcely one could be seen intoxicated. In the evening 
of the same day he attended a temperance meeting, and heard 
Hawkins and Anderson of the original Washingtonians give some 
of their " experience." In this way, he says, more than one thou- 
sand dram shops in New York city had been shut up effectually, 
and an untold amount of misery and ruin had been prevented. 

Soon after, he repaired to Philadelphia, and spent considerable 
time in free and earnest conferences with the Board and executive 
officers of the Publication Society. Their corresponding secretary 
talked of resigning his official connection with the society. What 
should be done if he did, and what if he did not? were questions 
of serious magnitude which the more active and responsible mem- 
27 



314 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

bers of the Board found it difficult to answer satisfactorily. To 
him they looked as one better qualified to aid them than any other 
one, both from his long and intimate acquaintance with their wants, 
the necessities of our widely-spread denomination in all parts of 
the country, and also from his having recently felt the pulse and 
tested the willingness of the churches to entertain this society as 
one of their regular objects of religious benevolence. His opinion 
was frankly expressed, that the secretary had better resign. He 
also pointed out what he thought requisite to be done in order to 
give the society a firmer hold on the confidence and liberal support 
of the churches. But he declined giving any encouragement that 
he could come to their aid, though many of the brethren entreated 
him to consider the question, and expressed their conviction that 
he was the only man who could successfully carry forward the en- 
terprise at that period. 

The 20th of October he bade adieu to Philadelphia, and with as 
much expedition as the low water in the Ohio river would allow, 
pushed forward to meet the Western Association at Cincinnati. 
He reached that city the 27th, after the meetings had commenced. 
Here he participated in all the important deliberations. The for- 
mation of the Indian Mission Association was one of the chief of 
these ; and though he did not expect much benefit from it, further 
than to gratify and sustain the veteran McCoy and his family, 
and to gratify some local feeling in the West, which was scarcely 
satisfied with having a mission so peculiarly Western in its scope, 
managed exclusively by an Eastern Board, he thought it better on 
the whole to gratify this demand than to resist it. For the same 
reasons the Board of this Indian Mission Association was located 
in Louisville. The educational interest, and specially the Theologi- 
cal Institution in Covington, then rising into some notice, engrossed 
considerable attention. He looked to this most hopefully, and 
spent much time with Brother E. Bobbins, its enterprising founder, 
in counselling for its future course, and in endeavoring so to pro- 
mote its success as should least interfere with the prosperity of 
the irtfant colleges in the Western States, which so much needed 
the fostering care and united support of their several localities. 

Monday, the 31st of October, was his birthday ; he had finished 
his fifty-third year, and seems astonished at the rapid flight of time 
and years. But another aspect of the case still more deeply im- 
pressed his mind, and he cries out, Bless the Lord, my soul, for 
his abundant goodness ! 

He took leave of Cincinnati, and the next day spent some time 



1 



HOME AGAIN — EXTENSIVE CORRESrONDENCE. 315 

in Louisville looking into the state of things, which he. found, so 
far as the interests of the denominational paper of the "West, the 
Banner and Pioneer— of which he had continued one of the editors • 

to this time were concerned, somewhat confused and misatisfac- 

tory. An informal meeting of the Board of the Western Baptist 
Publication Society was also held, to whom he communicated his 
general views of this subject, as they have above been stated. 

The next day he pursued his rather slow course— owing to the 
low stage of water— towards home. A Sabbath was spent on the 
steamer ascending the Mississippi, and he and an EngUsh Brother 
May, both preached on board the boat. They reached St. Louis 
in safety on Monday, the 7th of November, and the following day, 
in company with Dr. Huxtable, an English Baptist brother, who 
went West to spend some weeks with Mr. Peck, he reached home, 
finding his beloved family well and happy, which called forth his 
praise and grateful acknowledgments. He had been absent seven 
months. 

With more time and undisturbed quiet than he had hitherto been 
able to command, he now sat down and made a full written report to 
the Baptist Pubhcation Society at Philadelphia ; accompanying it, 
by their desire, with suggestions as to the wisest course to be subse- 
quently pursued. He wrote, also, to some of the brethren of the 
Board personally, explaining more minutely the di fficulties which had 
become known to him, as growing out of their past action or want 
of action, and suggesting the appropriate remedies. The tenor of 
his journal at this period, and such copies of his letters as he pre- 
served, indicate very decidedly how deep a hold of his convictions 
this pubhcation work had taken, and how anxiously sohcitous he 
had become that just the right measures should be pursued to 
give it a firmer, broader hold on the regards of the churches. 

The remainder of this month and the following one Mr. Peck 
was engaged mainly in an extensive and laborious correspondence 
with brethren in all parts of the country, writing sometimes a 
dozen long letters a day, and on a variety of subjects, some, private 
and personal, but far the.larger part with reference to various aspects 
of the Eedeemer's kingdom, and the ways and means of its ad- 
vancement. He seems to have favorably entertained a proposition 
about this time to engage as a Western assistant to the Rev. David 
Benedict, in helping to prepare the new edition of his History of 
American Baptists. His plan was for Mr. Peck to undertake the 
Western portion, and secure recent and reliable information in 
regard to the rise and progress of all the Baptist associations in 



816 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

the West, and sketches of the history of the more important 
churches, and of prominent individuals, ministers and others. To 
prepare himself for such a work, he spread the net of his inquiries 
over this whole region, and called forth many responses and much 
aid, both in letters written to him particularly on this subject, and 
in minutes and other documents which he procured. 

But his labors in correspondence did not prevent his preaching 
or lecturing on prophecies or on temperance, or some other useful 
topic, nearly every Sabbath, and frequently on week-days and even- 
ings. Among the rest, a protracted meeting at Bethel was held for 
a week or more, and he was desired to do all the preaching, while 
other ministers helped in prayer and exhortation. He did preach 
once or twice each day, and by giving something like systematic 
order and coherence to the range of topics which he discussed, much 
more religious instruction was communicated than usual, and a 
high degree of satisfaction was expressed with the results of the 
meeting. If less were professedly converted than at some former 
meetings of the kind, the ministers thought that more permanent 
good was done, as the mind was much more fed, and the character 
of the converts evinced more solidity and Scriptural knowledge 
than usual. 

A ministers' meeting was appointed at his house for the end of the 
year, and to secure a large attendance, he wrote scores of letters. 
The last day but one of the year 1842, a goodly number of the 
brethren assembled. They had preaching once or twice a-day, and 
held a private conference among themselves in the intervals, dis- 
cussing some of the iihore important practical questions, relating 
to Shurtleff College and ministerial education in the AYest : how 
both might be carried forward with vigor and success. His own 
case, and w^hat might be his duty in present circumstances, seems 
also to have occupied considerable attention ; and he mentions how 
deeply all were affected, when one of the Lemens, by request of his 
brethren^ engaged in special prayer for him ; thanking God for pre- 
serving his life so long, and for his continued usefulness to the cause 
of Christ at large, and begging for Divine direction for him in 
future. 

The meeting continued for more than a week, and seems to have 
been a season of much spiritual refreshment to them all. The 
last question on which they deliberated was: "Has a parent, from 
the authority vested in his hands by God and the laws of our 
country, any right to coerce his child in matters strictly religious .?" 
This question, he says, was brought up by a decision of Judge 



DEDICATION-SERMON FOR AFRICAN CHURCH. 31T 

IjGwis, of Pennsylvania, against a Baptist minister (Rev. William S. 
Hall), for baptizing a minor daughter of a Dr. Armstrong. After 
fuU discussion, this ministers' meeting decided this question in the 
negative. A distinguished doctor of divinity and a Baptist, at 
nearly the same time, however, wrote to this judge, approving his 
decision. Who, alas ! shall decide where the doctors thus disagree? 

The middle of January, Mr. Peck visited St. Louis by request, 
and found, to his great joy, a pleasant revival in the white and 
colored Baptist churches. The immediate object in his' invitation 
was for him to preach at the dedication of a new house of worship, 
Just erected by the African church — a substantial brick edifice, 
thirty-five by sixty-five feet, with galleries, and costing four thou- 
sand dollars. Their church then consisted of more than three hun- 
dred members, and they maintained good discipline. They had 
already raised among themselves the larger part of the cost of the 
house which that day they solemnly gave to the Lord. He gave a 
sketch of the origin and history of this church, and its several 
places of worship, all of which was listened to with deep interest. 

Once and again he also preached for his esteemed Brother Hin- 
ton, then pastor of the other Baptist church, where several con- 
versions had lately been witnessed, and more were anxious. At 
the same time he was getting from the surveyor-general's office 
in St. Louis, such sketches a» would enable him to correct and per- 
fect his new map for his Gazetteer of Illinois. 

For the same purpose, a few .weeks later, he visited Springfield, 
the seat of government of Illinois, and while there, engaged in doing 
good, lecturing, preaching, and counselling with all the wise and 
good whom he found assembled from difierent parts of the State. 
The governor solicited him to accept the office of State Superin- 
tendent of Instruction, then, as was supposed, about to be perma- 
nently created. So much was this in harmony with some of the 
important objects of his Hfe, ever since he had been in the West, 
and so wide a field would it open for his usefulness, that it is no 
wonder he felt strongly tempted to engage in it. It shows, more- 
over, the high estimation in which he was held by his fellow- 
citizens, and those most competent to appreciate his worth. But 
the Lord had other designs for him. 



31S MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Secretaryship of the American Baptist Publication Society— His Ac- 
ceptance and its Conditions. 

On the 27th of February, 1843, Mr. Peck received, from a 
private source, intelligence that he had been unanimously 
elected to the Secretaryship of the Baptist Publication So- 
ciety, Philadelphia. Four days later he had the official an- 
nouncement from the hand of his predecessor, who still held 
the office ad interim. This was a fair specimen of the effi- 
ciency with which the most important business of the society 
had been conducted. He was in some degree prepared for 
this announcement, as by previous correspondence he had 
known the wishes of a large number of the Board. To an 
inquiry addressed to him some weeks earlier, whether he 
would consent to accept this plac«, if elected, he had very 
freely responded, stating at considerable length the conditions 
precedent on which alone he could consent to serve, and 
closing with the assurance that if any other brother could be 
found able and willing to assume the arduous and difficult 
duties of this office, he sincerely desired that he might be ap- 
pointed ; since in his own case there were other doors of use- 
fulness opened before him, more congenial Avith his health 
and former habits, and also more remunerative. 

It may be well, in this place, to give, in a condensed form, 
from his own statement, the conditions on which he would 
feel at liberty to entertain the proposition of accepting this 
appointment. They were as follows : 

^ 1. Measures must be promptly adopted to inspire the denomina- 
tion with confidence in the management and efficiency of the so- 
ciety. He had found, the preceding year, great want of confidence 
in the energy, efficiency, and economy of its management, which 
proved one of the most serious obstacles in his path. He then did 



NEW PLANS FOR PUBLICATlOxN SOCIETY. 319 

all in his power to produce confidence, and thinks he succeeded in 
some degree. 

2. Economy in the incidental expenditures must be carried to 
the lowest point possible, without impairing the efficiency of the 
society. The salaries of all employed in Philadelphia to be reduced 
twenty per cent., beginning with his own office. 

3. A thorough, searching examination to be at once instituted 
into every department of the society, so as to ascertain the exact 
value of the stock on hand, whether at the depository, or in the 
hands of agents and colporteurs, or in branch depositories, with 
the losses incurred by bad debts, depreciation of books, tracts, 
plates, etc. 

4. Make the corresponding secretary the general agent, with the 
understanding that he shall be relieved from editing the Record — 
a small monthly paper — and, also, that he spend not less than 
two-thirds, and perhaps three-fourths of his time in agency works, 
getting funds and superintending the sales and the colporteur sys- 
tem. Make it the duty of the depository agent to conduct the 
appropriate business correspondence of the depository and sales, 
as well as the ordinary correspondence of the society, in his ab- 
sence ; having, if need be, associated with him an advisory com- 
raiittee of the Board, to counsel him in important matters. The 
secretary, even on his tours of agency, to be still a diligent corres- 
pondent, endeavoring to address every association, and every 
principal church once a year, unless he paid them a personal visit. 
To facilitate his operations, he should be provided with two forms 
of circulars : one for associations, churches, and auxiliaries ; and the 
other for ministers and other individuals. In all cases, when send- 
ing one of the circulars, he should write a short letter on the blank 
side of the sheet ; since people do not notice a mere printed circu- 
lar, as they do a written letter. 

The secretary should also visit all our colleges and theological 
institutions, address the students on the objects of the society, and 
keep up a correspondence with the officers, and with every society 
of missionary inquiry. Should correspond, also, with all our home 
missionaries, and with the secretaries of all general associations and 
State conventions, inducing mutual co-operation, and opening chan- 
nels for the circulation of the society's publications. Though this 
double duty of corresponding secretary and general agent must be 
arduous, self-denying, and responsible, it all must be done; and 
since the society has not means, at present, to support two men 
for this work it must be done by one. 



320 



MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 



Now, in view of this outline of both the comprehension and dis- 
tribution of duties, 

5. Will the acting members of the Board stand pledged mutually 
and efficiently to co-operate in any feasible measure to make the 
society what the denomination needs and expects ? 

"Probably it would be requisite for me, if I accept the office to 
reserve one or two months, to be with my family and attend to my 
personal affairs, with a proj)ortionate reduction of salary One 
thing more in reference to my health: I cannot expose myself to. 
travel m the severe weather of winter in a northern climate, and, 
consequently, any agency service I may perform in winter mus 
be in a southern field." 

With this full outline of his views, which the Board bv 
pressing his acceptance of the office, and the assurance ihat 
he was the only man they could find capable of carrying out 
their designs, did expressly indorse and approve, the wav 
was fully opened for his entrance on this enlarged sphere of 
labor. He had counted the cost, and with deliberation and 
resoluteness put his hand to the plough. 

March and the first part of April he remained at home, and in 
Its immediate neighborhood, putting the finishing hand to some of 
his begun labors and enterprises, and preparing himself and family 
as well as possible for a long separation. He continued, moreover 
the extensive correspondence in which he had been engaged' 
making it a preparation for the work in which he was so soon to 
be fully engrossed, and calling forth the counsels and pledges of 
co-operation from those whom he addressed in all parts of the 
country. He seems, also, very fervently to have sought the Divine 
blessing on this devotement of himself to a new, wide, and very re- 
sponsible sphere of service; and he also sought very earnestly the 
prayers of his brethren, that the sacrifice he was now willing to 
make might not be in vain. The weather, for these two monlhs 
was remarkab y severe ; storm after storm of the most terrific char! 
acter occurred; and when it was the time of year for the genial re- 
turn of spring, the rigid frosts and deep snows held undisputed 
sway. On the 5.h of April, he writes, not a green thing haslet 
started from the frost-bound earth. The following day he engaged 
his passage by steamer from St. Louis, and taking leave of his 
family and other friends, he set forth on his way to Philadelphia. 
A young man, an entire stranger, occupied the same state-room 



JOURNEY TO PHILADELPHIA. 321 

with liim, and improved the opportunity, -wliile Mr. Peck was 
asleep, of abstracting from his pantaloons' pocket two little pack- 
ages of gold coin, amounting to sixty-two and a half dollars — nearly 
all the money he had. It was done so stealthily — though his 
nether garments had carefully been placed behind him in his berth 
— that he was not awakened, and the thief went on shore, probably 
at Sraithland, without exciting any suspicion. On his explaining 
to the officers of the boat, in the morning, the robbery, they prom- 
ised to use their best endeavors, by the aid of their agent at Smith- 
land, to detect the perpetrator of this villainy. But he remained 
undiscovered, and the loss was final. Our brother, with charac- 
teristic equanimity, enters in his journal: "Though it is nearly all 
of my ready money, yet I am not disturbed. Providence will pror 
vide ! I can only say, in regard to this wicked young man, ' Lord 
have mercy on him.' " 

Stopping for a few hours at Louisville, he called on Mr. Buck at 
his office, and about this time demanded to have his name taken 
from, the head of the Banner and Pioneer as one of its editors. 
This semi-official connection had continued from the time when his 
own paper, the Pioneer, was transferred to Louisville and united 
with the Banner, and he had written a great deal for it ; but in the 
new and official relations which he was henceforth to sustain, he 
seems to have felt, and justly, that there would be an incongruity 
in his appearing as one of the editors of a paper some of whose con- 
tents might prove embarrassing to him and to the society he was 
to serve. 

His good-will to the paper and its conductors was not by this 
step diminished. He wrote for it frequently and ably, as a con- 
tributor-, but ^thout editorial responsibility. While on the steamer, 
passing up the Ohio river, his journal shows that he was busy 
in writing out some numbers of a series of articles on the prophe- 
cies, under the head of *' Millerism," which was now making con- 
siderable headway in the West. In Cincinnati, he found that the 
Episcopalians were lecturing and writing on the prophecies, espe- 
cially on the second advent of Christ to live on earth one thousand 
years — the old Millenarian doctrine. 

He was cheered by the companionship of a Brother Potts, a 
missionary to the Indians, and they reached Wheeling on ther night 
of the 14th April. In getting his baggage from the steamer, Mr. 
Peck fell down the stairway, cut his head, which bled profusely'-, 
but undeterred by this and his want of rest, which it occasioned, 
he took the early mail-stage the next morning and hastened ou his 



322 MEMOIR OF JOHN U. TECK. 

journey. The next night, very weary and worn out, he reached 
IBaltimore. But after restmg a few hours, he felt obliged to hasten 
on to Philadelphia, which he reached the afternoon of the 17th, 
and for about a week devoted himself early and late to the investi- 
gation of the affairs of the Publication Society., 

The investigation which he then made showed that some 
things were better and some worse than he had expected. 
On the whole, he determined to press onward, right onward, 
and endeavor to earn and deserve success. In company with 
several Philadelphia brethren, he hurried onward to Albany, 
where the Baptist anniversaries were that year held. He 
reached there in time for the earliest of them, and with deep 
interest attended them all. This, indeed, was always char- 
acteristic of him ; and to this trait he owed in no small degree 
his success. He was too good and too great a man to narrow 
down his sympathies and ardent good-will to that branch of 
benevolence with which he was officially connected, and never 
evinced the slightest jealousy l^gt others should secure more 
than their share of the attentions and the benefactions of the 
public. 

The annual report of the Publication Society had been 
drawn up by his predecessor, but he read it, and took at once 
the official position to which he was entitled. The arrange- 
ments for resolutions, addresses, etc., had been but imperfectly 
made, and the audience at this anniversary was neither large 
nor enthusiastic. However, the new secretary seemed to feel 
that he must familiarize himself to reveres. 

It appeared that the contributions to the society of the en- 
tire 3^ear only reached the meager sum of fifteen hundred and 
fifty dollars, for the general purposes of its organization, and 
the receipts from all sources, exclusive of a small amount 
towards a building fund, were eight thousand, five hundred 
and fifty-three dollars. Triie, there had been some public re- 
verses in the pecuniary affairs of the country. There had 
been an opportunity for the penurious to excuse themselves 
on the complaint of hard times ; but the report very justly re- 
marked, that this excuse would not suffice to account for this 



NEW YORK ANNIVERSARIES — SOCIETY WORK. 323 

beggarly deficiency: for, "The very superfluities of Baptist 
living would have been ample to furnish a working capital 
for the denominational Publication Society." 

As soon as the anniversaries closed, he hastened back to 
Philadelphia, and applied himself with vigor to preparing the 
annual report and accompanying documents for the press, and 
to examining still more minutely and thoroughly into the 
general state of the society's affairs. This was only inter- 
mitted for a few days the second week in May, to •'Enable him 
to attend the general anniversaries in New York. 

The anniversaries proper which Mr. Peck attended in New 
York, were the Seamen's Friend Society, the New York 
Sunday-school Society (where he made one of the addresses), 
the American Tract Society, where Kincaid was very happy 
in delineating tract operations among the Burmans and 
Karens, and Dr. Nevin, very truthful in describing the Ger- 
man character in the West ; a convention called by a Mr. 
Bingham, a missionary from the Sandwich Islands, for a con- 
ference on the evangelization of the world — a new organiza- 
tion proposed for this end being opposed by Rev. Dr. An- 
derson, Secretary of the American Board, for fear it would 
clash with other organizations ; the American, Fedobaptist^ 
Home Mission Society, w^here he heard some good and sen- 
sible speaking ; the American Bible Society, where he thought 
the tirades uttered against sectarianism, against Puseyism, 
and against Romanism, by several of the speakers, were in 
exceedingly bad taste at a Bible anniversary. In the end, he 
attended the anniversary of the American Temperance Union, 
where some of the Washingtonians held forth. 

The venerable Lyman Beecher, his old neighbor and friend, also 
gave the following account of the origin of temperance efforts in 
America : — He stated that in 1811 he attended two ordinations in 
Connecticut, where rum, brandy, and all sorts of intoxicating liquors 
were profusely drank, even by the clergy ; that at the General As- 
sociation of Congregationalists in 1812, a committee on this subject 
reported that nothing could be done to arrest the evil of intemper- 
ance, when he (Dr. Beecher) moved a recommitment of the report, 
and was added to the committee, who thereupon brought in a reso- 



324 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK : 

lution recommending the disuse of ardent spirits at - ordinations 
and like occasions : that this led on to his six sermons, preached 
and since published, and that here, and in this way, originated the 
great temperance movement. 

At the close of the week he returned to Philadelphia, and re- 
sumed the work on which he was before engaged. Soon he ar- 
ranged to lodge in the depository building, thus saving both time 
and expense, and also securing what he seems to have much prized, 
more undisturbed opportunity for private devotion. He was not a 
little embarrassed by the connection of the Kecord with the Publi- 
cation Society. . It was objected to by many, as really little else 
than the local religious paper of the Baptists in Philadelphia, while 
at the same time the funds of the Society were used to sustain it. 
The desire of the secretary, after looking into the matter, was to 
secure the Baptist Memorial and unite it with the Record, the Al- 
manac and Annual Report, making the publication monthly, and 
pretty closely identified with the interests of the society. But he 
found a difficulty in securing the concurrence of the Board, some 
of whose members were tenacious for having it a weekly paper. 

Under date of May 20th he mentions that Brethren C^ and H., 
formerly Baptist ministers, beloved and confided in, but now carried 
away by Millerism, called on him in. passing through Philadelphia on 
their way to the West, to propagate the delusion of Christ's personal 
coming in 1843-44. "They conversed with me for an hour, and 
I tried to show them that the judgment announced in Dan. vii. was 
not the last great day of judgment, but rather the providential 
judgment of God on the monster, in which he would break down 
the anti-christian hierarchies and open the way for Christ to come 
by his gospel and Spirit to convert the world. These good men are 
deluded. The devil is certainly very busy with good men to spoil 
their usefulness." 

Mr. Peck's free and generous spirit led him often to overdo 
in order to comply with the wishes, and lighten the burden 
of his ministering brethren, the pastors of the city churches. 
Once and again his journal notices the pressure thus brought 
on him by being persuaded to supply for one and another, so 
that very often he preached three times on the Sabbath, and 
walked half a dozen miles from one remote part of the city 
to another. The consequence was that at a late hour Sabbath 
jaight he would reach his solitary lodgings in the depository 



NEW ENGLAND MEETINGS— REVIVALISTS. 325 

quite worn out. On the 19th of May he took part in the 
anniversaries of the American Sunday-school Lnion. Drs. 
Tyng, Leland. and Higgins spoke before him, the two latter 
quite long. He spoke twenty minutes, giving statistical fact^ 
of the Western valley, and Dr. L. Beecher spoke as much 
lono-er on general principles. Though quite unwell, he went 
home from these exercises Snd was engaged several hours m 
preparing a large amount of appropriate matter for an extra 
Record which the Board now wished to issue. Such are fair 
specimens of what occurred in the history of almost every 

week and day. 

Monday, May 29th. Though quite unwell, set forth on a tour to • 
meet the New England anniversaries in Boston. Tuesday attended 
the anniversary of the New England Sunday-school Umon, where 
he had been announced to speak, but those preceding him were 
so intolerably long, that he declined. Next day the Northern 
Baptist Education Society was held, and at the end a sort of 
conference on education occurred, at which he spoke a short 
time on "the state of our ministry in the Western valley. 
At the social tea-party that evening, he gave, by request, some 
account of the late Jeremiah Yardeman. Then followed the meet- 
ings promotive of foreign and home missions; before the latter, 
Dr Wayland preaching from Rev. xiv. 15 with his usual ability. 
The following Sabbath evening, at the united Baptist lecture, he 
preached in behalf of the Publication Society and the West. The 
house was full and the impression was favorable ; but just as he 
was about to clinch the nail he had driven, and call out the 
hberahty of the brethren in a collection for the object, there was 
an alarm of fire, which broke up the assembly abruptly. Thus 
were his hopes prostrated. He stayed another week, visited some 
churches at their week-night lecture, and twice preached on his 
object, the following Lord's-day, but it proved rainy. Then he 
hastened away from Boston to attend the Connecticut anniversaries, 
meeting that year at Norwich, where the pastor. Brother M. G. 
• Clark received him most cordially. The Baptists in Connecticut 
number about one hundred and twenty churches, and some fifteen 
thousand communicants, with one hundred ministers. On home 
missions Mr. Peck made an address, designed to show the encourage- 
ment there was to labor for the evangeUzation of the Western valley. 
On Thursday the Pubhcation and Sunday-school cause came up. He 
^8 



326 MEMOIIt OF JOHN M. PECK. 



Bpoke again on this^ubject, and notices that considerable feelin- was 
mam ested. Prospects of eo-operation in his object of the breSiren 
and churches in his native State he thought very favorable. x\ear 
the close of the session, a celebrated revivalist preacher and pastor 
of that neighborhood preached, producing as usual great effect. 
Mr. Peck records his doubts, however, whether such spasmodic 
nfluence is the best and most permanently useful. He notices 
«iat a number of Baptists under nhis revivalist's ministrations 
have become as noisy as any of our frontier people. They cry out 
'Hallelujah!' 'Amen!' ■ (Jlory to God !' and other like explet!ves 
very frequently and vociferously, and such habits, in these regions' 
I c^annot but regard as decidedly injurious, as their natural 
tendency ,s to ultraism and disorder." Friday he went to New 
London and lectured at night on the Publication Society and its 
influence on the West. The following day and the Sabbath 
ensuing he spent w^th the second and thi/d Baptist churches 
m Groton where a l.fe-membership was also secured. On Sabbath 
evening he went to Stonington borough and preached. The 
two fol owing days, in company with beloved brethren who 
desired to promote his health and happiness, he took several water 
ex ursions-boarded a noble, whaler just ready to sail for the 
Indian Ocean-took a few blue fish and crossed over to Watch 
House Point, and obtained a fine view of the three States, Rhode 
Island Connecticut, and New York, as well as of Block Isknd and 
the Atlantic Ocean. In the evening attended a temperance mee^ 

ZiZ^ZfoT^tT ^^ '""'"'' ^-"'^ ^^^^* -tisfacLn tit 

h:Xd:':T:ai?Lm!nT- :; ^^^°™"'°"' '-^'^^ -'^^-^^ 

thft'vea';.\f r'r'/'" ^'°r'""' ^'"''" ^^-"-tion; meeting 
that yeai at \ oluntown. He notices a characteristic sermon 
preached during the session by the revivalist, and another ZZ 
Bible Society question, in the close of which it was stated that oM 
Irc^fer:; E °"" '=°""P"T^ '"'' -^"'^ «f *« -clesiastle 1 hief 

mel'l JT V *^t"--l'-- 1° ^^"S-t h^e attended'a ea i^ 

rur^and o the*; "' ""'''/' Winebrennarians, near Harris- 

Durg, and so the summer passed away. 



SECRETARY OF PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 827 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Secretaryship— Wreck of the Shepherdess Steamer — Tonrs and 
Labors. 

The position of the Baptist Publication Society in the 
year 1843, and that point at which it is found twenty years 
later, are so dissimilar that it may be difficult fully to appre- 
ciate the embarrassments of the chief functionary at the 
former period. One prime object of Mr. Peck in his dis- 
courses, and the written and printed appeals which he sent 
forth to the churches, was to awaken a livelier interest in 
good reading, for the purpose of promoting the higher intelli- 
gence of the membership and the community. '* Give 
attendance to reading" was a favorite and pertinent theme 
on which he often discoursed to conventions, associations, and 
churches. They began to wake up to the importance of it ; 
and as the result, they sent to the society, not the means to 
provide the requisite books, but clamorous demands for publi- 
cations on credit — for more books, and in greater variety, but 
not the funds for producing them. The demand was for 
bricks in more extended tale than ever, but little straw was 
furnished for their manufacture. This was one of the em- 
barrassments of the secretary. Could but a few generous- 
hearted, enterprising friends of this cause then have come 
forward — as they have at a later period — with endowments 
by thousands of dollars at once, how it would have lifted the 
cloud before him, and smoothed ^his way to earlier, larger 
success ! A public sentiment had not yet been formed of 
sufficient power to draw forth such gifts, and the society had 
to feel its way with a degree of timid caution which hard 
necessity imposed. 

Repeated, short ex.cursions were made into New England 
and the Middle States, where some little help was obtained, 



328 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

and more proiiHsed ; but it came very slowly. From May 
to December he preached seventy-eight times, delivered thirty 
other addresses, visited forty-five churches ofiicially, four 
associations, five State conventions, six ministers' meetings, 
one camp-meeting, and one college commencement, and 
traveled three thousand three hundred and ten miles, besides 
office- work enough to have fully engrossed an ordinary man. 
Such were his common experiences and efforts, for the whole 
period of his official connection with the society, varied and 
somewhat relieved by his annual visit to Rock Springy The 
first of these visits was marked by fearful peril. He was 
hoping to reach his family by New- Year's day, but the boat 
proved a slow one, and the low stage of the water retarded 
their progress. On the last Sabbath of the year, by invita- 
tion of the captain and passengers, he preached from the 
text of 1 Peter iv. Y, The end of all things is at hand, etc. 
How solemnly appropriate to the captain and others of that 
company ! On entering the Mississippi river from the Ohio, 
the " White Cloud," from New Orleans, passed them, and 
some half a dozen passengers got on board of her, because 
she was so much faster than the " Shepherdess," on which 
he was traveling. His journal is as follows : • 

Jan. dd. Our boat lay by for some hours this morning before 
light, as the navigation was deemed dangerous. At sunset we 
were a few miles above Herculaneum. At nine o'clock the cabin 
passengers signed a testimonial of thanks to the captain for his 
carefulness and prudence in navigating the boat amid the dangers 
of the Mississippi at this low stage of water, as snags abound in 
the channel. Retired to my berth at about half-past nine, with my 
clothes on except my coat, the night being very cold. After con- 
siderable time I fell asleep. Near eleven o'clock I was awakened 
by a dreadful crash : the boat struck a large snag, scarcely above 
the surface of the water. This occurred a little below the mouth 
of Cahokia creek. I heard nearly at the same instant screams of 
distress, and sprang from my berth, put on my coat, seized one 
boot, but before I could put it on the water was rushing into my 
state-room, which was forward of the wheel-house. Without boots 
or hat I rushed on to the guard, seized the projecting portion of 



WRECK OF THE SHEPHERDESS — NARROW ESCAPE. 329 

the hurricane (or upper) deck, where, after considerable difficulty, 
I succeeded in getting on to that deck. A number of persons were 
already there, and many more got on from the stern afterward. 
The bow was so far under water as to cover the guards, but the 
stern held up some time longer. 

Hearing cries in the ladies' cabin I got the pole of a wagon on 
the deck, and thrusting it in at the sky-light tried to pry off the 
roof, but found it impossible. The ladies, however, succeeded 
in getting on the hurricane deck, as did most of the steerage 
passengers. The boat was then floating sideways down the current, 
and soon ran on another snag and careened partly over. This 
threw ofif the boilers, and the bow thus lightened, brought the 
guards to the surface. The hull- of the boat then separated and 
floated alongside the cabin and upper works. Next the smoke- 
stacks, or chimneys fell, which tore off the end of the hurricane deck. 
Captain Howell, with several other persons, was killed or knocked 
overboard by the fall of the chimneys. The wheel-houses were 
soon separated from the deck, and floated off or sunk. 

Finding myself exposed to the piercing atmosphere, I got down 
on the guards. But before this I had prayed repeatedly with the 
people around me. At first there was much confusion, and many 
screams and bowlings to God for mercy. Some professors of 
religion prayed consistently. While I was on the guard, and the 
hull of the boat was floating alongside, I got on the bow, and stood 
for some minutes, but not liking its movements I was induced to 
return to the guard again. Soon the hull struck a blufif-bar and 
turned nearly over. Several were on it, and were drowned. Persons 
now gathered planks, doors, and pieces of the wreck to swim on. 
I looked about for something of the kind, but finally concluded to 
stick by the wreck while it floated. 

The hurricane deck fell after a -while, caused I suppose by the 
weight of the people upon it. We were now on a sort of raft, 
formed by the cabin-floor and guards, which continued floating as 
the current bore us, first on one side, then in the middle, and then 
on the other side of the river. Some were entirely wet— men, 
women and children, with very Uttle clothing on. They suffered 
intensely. A steamer lay at the shot-tower, just above Videpoche, 
and as we passed near, we aroused the men on board, who came 
off in their yawl. As it neared the wreck, I directed them to pass 
around to the stern, and first relieve the women and children, who 
were perishing. They took on board their boat most of the ladies 
and children, and put them on shore. The next time the yawl 



380 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

came near the stern on my side. I had made up my mind — since 
I did not suffer as severely as some others — to give them the 
preference ; but seeing a httle girl quite helpless, I caught her up 
and leaped into the boat. By this time we had floated a long 
distance down the current, and were landed a full mile below Yide- 
poche, so that I had to walk without boots or shoes. My stockings 
were soon worn through. The ground was frozen hard, and its 
sharpness hurt me at every step. One foot was frozen about the 
ball, and very much cut. I carried, too, one of the babes of Mrs. 
Snell, a passenger. On reaching the first house they would not let 
us in. At the next we obtained shelter and refreshment. Soon 
after a little girl was brought in by some men, entirely cold, speech- 
less, senseless. I got a blanket, removed her wet and frozen gar- 
ments, and rubbed her with flannels and vinegar. It was about an 
hour before she began to moan, and more than four hours before 
any warmth appeared, except about the heart. She so far 
recovered before I left the place as to speak. [Her name was 
Maria Pool, and some days after, in St. Louis, Mr. Peck received 
the grateful acknowledgments of her parents.] A boy was 
brought in alive and I prescribed the same course for him, but he 
was suffered to die. Another girl was brought in dead. The 
yawl went four times to the wreck, and the ferry-boat Icelander 
helped to complete the work. Soon as da^^^hght dawned I went to 
the store and bought a cap and shoes. Went also to the wreck in 
a steam tug sent down by the Mayor of St. Louis, found my large 
trunk with manuscripts and other materials, with overcoat, so that 
the pecuniary loss was but about thirty dollars. At an early 
period, and when the boat was breaking up, I fully expected death, 
as I could not swim, but felt calm and resigned, no ecstasy and no 
fear, but perfect self-possession, with ability to think of, and care 
and pray for others. Eternity will never seem nearer till I enter it. 

Though dreadfully lamed by the disaster, Mr. Peck, with 
characteristic energy, rode home the next day, before his 
beloved family had heard of his wreck. Far and near his 
friends were greatly moved by his great peril, and their 
sympathies and congratulations poured in upon him from 
every side. Thus briefly he records his sense of obligation 
to the Divine hand which rescued him : " Blessed be God 
for his goodness to me. I consider myself under additional 



HIS LABORS AND CORRESPONDENCE. 331 

obligation, anew to devote myself unreservedly to his ser- 
vice." 

Through the following week he was confined to his room, 
obliged to poultice his frozen, lacerated, and badly swollen 
feet, but nevertheless vigorously engaged in writing. A full 
sketch of the disaster he sent off to several periodicals ; and 
by the earnest desire of many friends he immediately set 
himself to work collecting the proper facts to be embodied in 
a memorial to Congress, urging an appropriation for the 
removal of snags and obstructions to navigation in the 
Western rivers. This was soon completed and forwarded, 
and was so favorably regarded that a generous appropriation 
was made for this important purpose. Thus promptly 
assiduous did he prove himself in turning all the events of 
his varied life to good, for the welfare of his country, and the 
safety of his fellow-men 

For about ten weeks, or till the middle of March, he re- 
mained about his home at Rock Spring, though the larger part 
even of this period was given, directly or indirectly, to pro- 
moting the interests of the Publication Society. Besides 
abundant correspondence in its behalf with friends all over 
the country, he appealed personally to as many churches as 
he could visit both in Illinois and Missouri. His prime 
object was to raise two hundred dollars, and establish with it 
a depository in St. Louis, and a somewhat smaller depository 
of their publications at Alton, hoping that these examples 
would provoke other communities to a worthy emulation. 
The quotas of books and tracts which the life-members were 
entitled to he also delivered or sent to them as far as possible, 
so that zeal for this good work might grow by what it fed on. 

In his return journey East, he contrived to plead his 
cause in Kentucky and Ohio ; and early in April, found him- 
self again in Philadelphia, where, after a brief survey, he 
^^Tites : " Prospects of the society far more encouraging than 
when I entered the depository a year ago. In this respect 
my success has fully equalled my expectations; not by 
collecting ample funds, but by inducing economy and system. 



332 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

and especially by making a general impression on the denomi- 
nation, and rousing up a spirit of practical and mutual co- 
operation." 

The next work was to gather materials, then prepare, write 
and re-write the annual report of the society. On a review 
of his own labors for the society he found that during the 
year he had traveled seven thousand and ninety miles, 
preached one hundred and twenty-four sermons, written eight 
hundred and fifty letters of official correspondence, besides 
sending out many hundreds of religious circulars. 

In the report he advocated with earnestness setting about 
raising a publishing fund of fifty thousand dollars in five 
years. So favorably was this regarded, that at the anniver- 
sary, held that year in Philadelphia, the project was approved, 
and nearly one thousand dollars in cash and pledges were se- 
cured on the spot, which the secretary hoped "might prove 
an indication of what will generally be done." 

In May and in July of this year, he notices with deep 
sorrow and mortification the riots in Philadelphia, aimed 
mainly against the Catholics. These were not the means he 
approved for securing or defending Protestant ascendency. 
The truth in love he thought better than bludgeons or incen- 
diary torches for this purpose. 

His time till near the middle of September was nearly 
equally divided between office work, the selection and super- 
intendence of publications, correspondence and the like, and 
going among the churches and associations of the States of 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, 
calling forth interest and aid, and specially pressing the fifty 
thousand dollar effort. Carson's works on Baptism, Fuller's 
works, and some of Booth's works, were then edited and their 
publication commenced. 

Early in the autumn he set his face to the West again, 
spending some time in western Pennsylvania, and then 
hurrying on as fast as the low stage of water in the Ohio would 
allow, he just reached Illinois in time to meet their State 
Convention in Belleville, near his family home, the first week 



VISIT TO GENERAL JACKSON. 333 

in October. Failing to meet the Kentucky General Associa^ 
tion the middle of that month, he met with that of Tennessee 
at the end of it, and gave several weeks afterward to the 
prosecution of the society's interests in middle Tennessee. 
This was in the midst of the exciting political canvass of 
1844, which nowhere raged with more violence and intensity 
of interest than in the native State of Mr. Polk, the success- 
ful candidate. His own State was carried, by a very small 
majority against him, while he prevailed in the Union at 
large. 

Three or four days immediately preceding the election Mr. 
Peck was in Nashville, where he says, " Meetings, mobs, 
speeches, songs, processions and fights were the order of the 
day." The week before, in company with a few Baptist 
preachers on their way to Wilson county, where the Baptist 
anniversaries Avere that year held, Mr. Peck had called again 
on General Jackson, at the Hermitage. He was not well 
that day and had refused himself to other company, but 
learning who they were now desiring to pay their respects 
to the Ex-President, he at once required their admission. He 
was evidently quite feeble — sitting near his bed — but not 
emaciated, and preserving still the same genial urbanity of 
deportment of which he was a consummate master. He had 
that very morning been publishing some political paper of 
considerable severity, but which contained, in the close, a 
few sentences from Washington's farewell address, -exhorting 
all portions of the country to seek its continued Union. One 
of the preachers adverted to this with commend'ation, which 
fired up the patriotism of the old veteran. For a few 
moments he quite forgot his infirmit}' , and poured out a well- 
digested apostrophe to the spirit of union, and mutual con- 
cession on the part of all his countrymen. His eye kindled, 
his tall frame dilated to its full proportions, and he showed 
himself again the great patriot captain which he was, 
especially whenever "the designs of traitorous Catalines were 
to be thwarted. 

With the venerable Colonel William Martin also, a worthy 



334 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

Baptist brother, then seventy-nine years old, but hale and 
vigorous, Mr. Peck formed a pleaaing intimacy, accompany- 
ing him to his home in a romantic vale in Smith county, 
Tenn., and spending a few days, pen in hand, taking down 
from the Christian veteran's' lips many of the remarkable in- 
cidents connected with his own and his associates' endurances 
and successes, both in their civil and religious history. 

This visit to Tennessee the secretary was wont to speak 
of afterward as one of the pleasantest of his ofiBcial labors ; 
not largely remunerative in pecuniary results, but helping, as 
he thought, the fraternal union and permanent co-operation of 
the widely-extended brotherhood for whose general welfare he 
was always solicitous. Who can say how much the prayers 
and labors, the spirit and deportment of such a man are even 
now doing to bring back that noble State to the cordial union 
and fellowship aimed' at by the loyal adherents to the Con- 
stitution and Government which our fathers have bequeathed 
to us ? 

November 11th Mr. Peck set out, on his return from Nash- 
ville, to St. Louis, on board a small, stern-wheel steamer, which 
proved a slow one, and consumed a whole week in the trip, 
which ordinarily occupies only half this time. He suffered some- 
what from illness, but prompt remedies and cheerful friends 
soon put him in good spirits again ; and when wearied with his 
writing, to which, whenever able, he gave some of the best 
hours of each day, he beguiled the weariness of the long pas- 
sage by recapitulating, to willing listeners, his varied expe- 
riences on these western waters for nearly thirty years, from 
his first ascent in a little boat with oars, sails, and setting- 
poles, in 181 T, down to his fearfully-disastrous shipwreck on 
board the Shepherdess the winter previous. As he passed 
the very spot which had so nearly proved fatal to him, he 
looked through some dimming tears of tender, sad remem- 
brances, on the scene of such deeply tragic interest. 

On reaching St. Louis, he learned two things of significant 
interest and importance : first, that Rev. Mr. Hinton, pastor 
of that Baptist church which he had regarded with so much 



DESCRirTION OP MR. PECK'S FAMILY AND HOME. 835 

love, and cared for and labored with so earnestly, had given 
notice the day preceding of his determination to leave them 
the following month, in order to raise a Baptist church in New 
Orleans ; next, the news had just reached the place, that New 
York had cast her electoral vote for Mr. Polk, instead of Mr. 
Clay, thus deciding the contest in favor of the former. On 
the result Mr. Peck remarks in his journal : " Thus, after thS 
most exciting contest ever waged, and the most ludicrous, 
reckless, unprincipled means ever employed in an election, 
the result has turned out precisely as it would, had no such 
efforts been made." 

Early the following month, a considerable gathering of 
ministers occurred at hfs house. He had lamed himself 
badly, and could not go to them, and invited some twenty of 
these brethren to meet him and a brother secretary, most of 
whom came at the appointed time. One of the number thus 
describes the scene, which, as it seems to have been no un- 
usual occurrence, and helps to a more accurate conception of 
his home and his neighbors, is here inserted : 

"Kock Spring is the home, and for so many years has been the 
center of influence of the veritable author of the Emigrant's Guide 
and the Gazetteer of Illinois ; the man whose publications and cor- 
respondence have led more settlers into this State than any other 
ten men. Who needs to be told that this is the Eev. J. M. Peck ! 
We should love to draw aside the veil, just a little, from this do- 
mestic scene. It proves that he who has shared the hospitality of 
BO many families, in all parts of our country, is as willing to exer- 
cise as to accept it. See his cheerful helpmate, contenting herself 
as best she may to abide at home and assiduously care for the wel- 
fare of the family and guests, having never re-visited her native 
New England since her first departure in 1817. Nor can you fail 
to notice that daughter Mary, with the father's energy, and the 
mother's quietness : how steady, noiseless, and efficient are all her 
movements ! and to her, in no small degree, are owing the comfort 
and happiness which always smile around that dwelling. We need 
say nothing of the sons, for the older ones were now absent, and 
of younger, half-grown men it is not quite fair to speak j for they 
are not yet what they soon will be, or ought to be : but as their 
good, considerate mother said : ' They do so much need their father 



336 I MEMOIR OF JOHN M. TECK. 

Tv^itli them.' Still, we can truthfully testify to the kind-hearted 
ingenuousness which they uniformly evinced. May they one day 
prove their parents' crown of rejoicing! 

*'A good farm, lying around this Kock Spring (you should re- 
member that neither rocks nor springs are frequent hereabouts,) 
and a comfortable, pleasant house, larger in its capacity to furnish 
good accommodations for the family and numerous guests, by day 
and by night, than any of its size we ever saw, is the home of this 
brother. He had expected our coming, and knowing how very 
hmited our stay must be, had arranged every thing in the best 
order possible to fill up the day. Most of the morning was spent 
with him alone, in his study. What accumulations of laborious 
carefulness and orderly accretions, during a long lifetime, here sur- 
round you ! Near noon the neighboring ministers, for a dozen or 
twenty miles around, begin to arrive. After some time spent in 
introductions and mutual greetings, dinner being over, a goodly- 
sized congregation met in the Rock Spring Seminary building, of 
former years, now only used as a chapel. After praise and prayer 
and preaching, some of us strolled over the more interesting locali- 
ties, bathed in the effluents of tlie spring, and drank of its pure 
waters. After tea, all assembled in the largest room, our host act- 
ing as moderator of the meeting ; and from each in turn, beginning 
with the eldest, some recital was given of the way in which the 
Lord had led them in the wilderness, lo, these many years ! Thus 
we heard in succession from Darrow and Ross and the Lemens 
(who witnessed the first baptism in this territory in 1794, and the 
first Baptist Association formed in 1807), from Pulliam and Taylor, 
from Rogers and Dawson and the younger Ross, and some others. 
Most of these were inadequately-sustained ministers, but loved the 
cause apparently in proportion to the sacrifices they had made for 
it. In private, and in various incideiltal ways, it was gratifying to 
see the high regard whkh they all felt for Brother Peck. "He 
has been faithful to us in helping to correct our faults, and to im- 
prove our minds and hearts, and we thank him for it," was the 
common sentiment. At a late hour that evening, we prayed and 
sang and wept and rejoiced together ; near midnight, retired to rest. 
And when all were comfortably sleeping around, we long lay in 
wakeful musings, thinking over the scene which we shall never wit- 
ness again. Before daylight, next morning, we were hurried away." 

With no little regret, the secretary gave up his well- 
arranged plan of a southern tour for the promotion of his so- 



ALABAMA RESOLUTIONS — TROUBLES IX SOCIETIES. 33 i 

ciety interests, that winter. Family cares, in part, rendered 
this imperative ; and his concern for the Baptist cause in St. 
Louis, and his hope by remaining at home to do something 
more efficient by his pen, all conspired to the same result. 
For nine successive Sabbaths he filled the pulpit left vacant 
by his Brother Hinton, and succeeded, in some good degree, 
in animating that church with fresh courage. His labors 
were constant and efficient in other localities also. Dedica- 
tion and ordination sermons, in city and country, were called 
for, and he performed an immense amount of acceptable and 
useful service, both sacred and secular, during the winter. 

Early in March he was again at his post in Philadelphia. 
Finding that the society had been obliged to embarrass itself 
by temporary loans to the extent of twenty-four hundred 
dollars, his first endeavors were to provide means for their 
liquidation. But he found the minds of pastors and churches 
so much engrossed by the new and disturbing influence of the 
response given by the Boston Board of Foreign Missions to 
the Alabama Resolutions, that it much impeded his success. 
March 18th the pastors in and around Philadelphia met to 
confer on this agitating matter. A wide difference of views 
was found to prevail, and some ultra utterances on both sides 
were listened to ; and Mr. Peck's journal says, that, after much 
"free" discussion, a resolution was passed, avowing the ad- 
herence of these pastors to the platform agreed on at the last 
convention. This was reaching *' point-no-point," so far as 
the recent agitating action was concerned. 

At just this juncture, also, missionary meetings were held 
successively in several of the Baptist churches in Philadelphia, 
to listen to appeals for the Foreign Mission Board, already 
forty thousand dollars in debt, and the current contributions 
(by the withdrawment of the South) were steadily and largely 
diminishing. The embarrassments thus thrown in the way 
of the operations of his own society were greatly perplexing 
to the secretary. He had been planning for a strong appeal 
,to these churches, for the relief of the Publication Board, 
when this overshadowing and more urgent distress of another 
29 



338 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

body, in whose prosperity they were deeply interested, inter- 
vened to postpone, or thwart altogether, their own hopes of 
relief. It only remained for him to do the best in his power 
now, and hope for better times. He gathered some encouraging 
contributions from a few churches, and with a brave and 
trustful heart went on to arrange the materials for the annual 
report. 

At Providence, R. I., where the Baptist anniversaries were 
that year held, he says : 

The Bible and Publications Societies passed off with much har- 
mony and success. But both the Home and Foreign Mission So- 
cieties were greatly perplexed and worried by discussions growing 
out of the slavery aspect, in the bearings which this subject now 
assumed. Both of these organizations were plied with the practi- 
cal question, "Will you appoint slaveholders your agents and your 
missionaries ?" It became evident, before these anniversaries were 
over, that all hope of harmonious reconciliation on these points was 
futile. The Boards were placed in the midst of communities pretty 
thoroughly anti-slavery, and becoming more and more so every 
day ; and though many of the members, so far as they were indi- 
vidually concerned, would not have hesitated to go on as they had 
commenced, disregarding any distinctions between North and South 
on this matter, and striving only to preach the gospel to all acces- 
sible to them, by any competent instrumentality, yet even these 
were forced to a stand by the surrounding pressure. 

Mr. Peck's journal is very full and minute on all the ques- 
tions then debated. He was no partisan in these distracting 
deliberations ; his voice was rarely heard, and whatever utter- 
ances fell from him, were characterized by the good sense, 
the practical element of sound judgment, consistency, and ad- 
herence to the golden rule, which were his daily guides 
through life. It was now his happiness to disagree only with 
extreme men and measures on either side ; while his views, 
his feelings, his action harmonized entirely with nine-tenths 
of the whole mass, the candid and moderate men of all por- 
tions of the country. 

In June he attended the Baptist conventions in Connecticut, 
New Hampshire, and Maine. The interior of this last named 



I 



MR. PECK RESIGNS AS SECRETARY. 339 

State he had not before visited, and was now much pleased 
with it, especially the Kennebec valley, Waterville College, 
and the indomitable enterprise and industry which he saw on 
every side. In like manner, during the summer and autumn, 
he did his utmost, under the existing circumstances, to in- 
crease, the efficiency of the society, whose chief executive offi- 
cer he was — traveling into A^irginia and North Carolina, to 
attend the associations, State conventions, and any meetings 
where he could reach the public ear and heart. 

As early as the end of September, he arranged with the 
Board for his permanent retirement from the position he now 
held, at the end of the current year of the society's operations, 
and the appointment of his successor, for which cause he as- 
signs these two reasons : " I think the society can now be 
made to prosper, with such a secretary as Rev. T. S. INIalcom 
would make ; and my presence is very necessary in Illinois, 
both for my family and the churches." 

His description is graphic of the special meeting of the 
Old Triennial Convention, the last ever held, in November, 
1845, where he was one of the committee on framing the con- 
stitution of the Missionary Union, and active in the subse- 
quent debates on its adoption ; where, also, he met the vener- 
ated missionary Judson for the first time ; where, also, he 
acted an important part as chairman of the committee on In- 
dian missions, and also led off, by arrangement, in the one 
hundred dollar subscriptions, which completed the extinction 
of the forty thousand dollar debt of the Foreign Mission 
Board are all of deepest interest, but room for their repro- 
duction here cannot be allowed. 

By the 1st of December he reached Charleston, S. C, on a 
brief visit to that State and Georgia. The hope and effort 
was earnestly, persistently made to retain the connection of 
North and South in the Publication Society enterprise ; and 
for this purpose, every concession and guarantee desired, 
were cheerfully proffered, but not with much final success. 
The spirit of secession was then as rife in the bosoms of many 
southern leaders in the churches, as it has later become in the 



340 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

States. The majority of southern men of intelligence and 
principle did m)t in heart approve of it ; but for the sake of 
union among themselves, as they said, consented to w^hat was 
neither wise nor right. They and others are now reaping the 
bitter fruits of such concessions. 

The remainder of the winter was passed chiefly in and 
about Philadelphia, in much labor, care, and enterprise for 
the furtherance of the society's interests, and to facilitate the 
labors of his successor. His annual report argued, at con- 
siderable length, the demand, the economy, and efficiency of the 
colporteur system. In summuig up his own labors for the 
year, he recounts his travels seven thousand, one hundred and 
sixty-nine miles ; has been absent from the office one hundred 
and seventy-one days ; had preached ninety-eight times, and 
made forty-five addresses; had visited five Eastern, four 
Middle, and five Southern States, in promotion of the Publi- 
cation Society objects. 

Wednesday, May 6th, he took a final leave of the scenes 
and duties which for three or four years had engrossed his 
thoughts, and tasked all his powers, and turned his face to- 
wards his western home. How joyously he leaped up from 
the removal of the heavy burdens he had so long borne, and 
how, like the carrier-bird, long sundered, and by a wide in- 
terval, from its rest and its young, he now sped on with an 
impatience of delight to greet those from whom he had so un- 
willingly been sundered, he found no language adequate to 
express. 



LIFE OF P\NIEL BOONE. 34 1 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Authorship — Boone's Life — Western Annals— Characteristics— Br. 
Jeter's Testimony — Burning of Seminary Building — Final Tour 
in Eastern States. 

Gracefully to retire from a prominent public station to % 
narrower, humbler sphere, is at once difficult, and jet indis- 
pensable to one in Mr. Peck's situation. He achieved this 
transition with entire success, and reciprocating the cordial 
welcome of all his friends and neighbors in Illinois and Mis- 
souri, he seemed to enter without an hour's delay on the 
discharge of the multifarious duties, public and private, 
which had accumulated in his long absence. These will 
hereafter be narrated only in the most summary manner, be- 
cause they are generally quite similar in character and in- 
fluence to those which have already been described. 

One son was just now determining, against the father's 
remonstrances, to enlist as a subaltern officer in the Mexican 
army. Another, now a student in college, and under age, 
could scarcely be restrained from following his example ; and 
though finally yielding to parental remonstrances, had be- 
wme so inoculated with the desire of roving as to unfit him 
for study, and thus disappointed the hope of a literary career. 
Beyond the bounds of his immediate family-circle Mr. Peck's 
deepest solicitudes were awakened for the welfare of the 
Baptist churches in southern Illinois ; and with great efiFort 
and much correspondence he set on foot measures for their 
improvement. This year, too, 1845, he wrote for Dr. Spark's 
American Biography, the Life of Daniel Boone. Much of 
the material for it he had long possessed, but he now took a 
long journey among the old hunter's descendants, to glean 
something more in reference to his later days. Rejecting 
the many romantic stories in regard to him, Mr. Peck sifted 



842 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

every thing, and by the venera])le man's own statements was 
able to give, in less than two hundred duodecimo pages, the 
reliable record of his life, which afforded the public the highest 
satisfaction. 

At the New Englanders' celebration of Forefathers'-day in 
St. Louis, he was called on for a speech and a sentiment, and 
gave " The North, the South, and the West, a right-angled 
triangle, the hypothenuse resting on the Mississippi valley." 
His remarks were much admired. From his multifarious 
correspondence at this period, two letters of superior interest 
and importance should here be given but for want of room. 
One to the Secretary of the Cincinnati Historical Society, on 
occasion of his being elected a corresponding member, gives, 
at great length, a summary of his own historical studies and 
accumulation of materials. The other to the Home Secretary 
of the Baptist Missionary Union, discusses very fully the 
hindrances, specially in the West, to the more successful 
prosecution of that great and good enterprise, with sugges- 
tions as to the best method for their removal. He wrote also 
in favor of African colonization ; on Biblical interpretation ; 
on pulmonary diseases as affected by the Western climate : 
lectured ably on both home and foreign missions ; prepared a 
new and improved course of sermons for revival meetings, 
and delivered them, in series, at different places ; correspon- 
ded with Baptist ministers and others in Ireland, on- the 
facilities and advantages of transferring their then starving 
population to the fertile prairies of the West; prepared and 
delivered a course of lectures on Aboriginal Missions in 
North America ; drew up an elaborate report on the better 
observance of the Lord's-day, and secured its adoption by a 
convention of all denominations in southern Illinois. At the 
college commencement at Alton in 184*7, he delivered a com- 
memorative discourse, embalming the memory, character, 
liberality and worth of Dr. Shurtleff, whose noble donation 
had given name to that institution. The same year he failed, 
by political trickery, to be elected to the convention called for 
revising the Constitution of Illinois, after having been 



PASTORAL DUTIES AND LITERARY LABORS. 343 

earnestly incited by both parties to allow himself to be *a 
candidate ; this induced him to forswear politics entirely 
for the future. 

In the meantime he was pastor or stated supply of several 
churches comparatively near his home, as Troy, Edwardsville, 
Belleville, and Bethel. His zeal, system, fidelity, and the 
versatility of his powers for reanimating a despondent church 
were, in most of these cases, demonstrated in a way to inspire 
fresh confidence in him as a wise and good under-shepherd of 
the flock. Nor did he intermit at all, but rather increased his 
contributions for different periodicals. A series on the 
Pioneers of the West for the St. Louis Republican ; Notes 
on Illinois for the National Era ; Incidents of Illinois for the 
Illinois Journal, were each a series of articles begun about 
this period, and some of them continued till the year of his 
death. Other compositions of a higher order, on which he be- 
stowed much labor, were often coming from his hand. Such 
were his discourse on the anniversary of the battle of Buena 
Vista ; a commemorative discourse on John Quincy Adams ; 
and the Literary Address at the commencement of George- 
town College, Ky., on Elements of Western character. 

From the first of the year 1849 he officiated as pastor of 
the St. Louis Baptist church, between the leaving of Dr. 
Lynd, and the coming of Dr. Jeter, for about nine months, 
editing also the Western Watchman, and giving much time 
to the African Baptist churches and all other evangelizing 
operations in the city. During this period he was the efficient 
instrument in leading a large number of Germans and Holland- 
ers who had been pedobaptists, but now embraced more 
scriptural views, to be baptized and organized into a church. 
Some of them had gifts for usefulness in the ministry. He 
guided their studies and reading, and one of them formed the 
nucleus of the German Baptist Mission of the West, which 
at one time promised large results. He successfully also set on 
foot measures for paying off a debt of twelve thousand dol- 
lars on the church he was serving : by dint of his own perse- 
vering efforts chiefly, this good work was accomplished, just 



844 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. rECI. 

before a most disastrous and extensive conflagration laid 
waste a large portion of the best of St. Louis, and its fleet 
of steamboats, burning up several millions of wealth in a 
few hours. The Western Watchman office was consumed 
among the rest. It had been owned by a poor brother in the 
church, and there seemed no way to recommence the publica- 
tion, but to raise one thousand dollars at least, in small sums, 
in that State and the proximate portions of Illinois. 

Added to all the rest, the cholera made fearful ravages during 
a portion of this summer, sweeping off many of his personal 
friends, and clothing others in mourning. Nor was the college 
at Alton — that fond child of his affections — without its serious 
difficulties in these busy weeks. Once and again he was sum- 
moned to meet with its trustees, to adjust difficulties with 
agents or others, who had added to its embarrassments. The 
autumn of this year, 1849, brought him also the visit of the 
veteran Dr. Maclay, who seems to have spent some days 
at Rock Spring, to their mutual satisfaction. Still later 
Mr. Peck visited Iowa, where four of his children were then 
settled, and seems to have taken much pleasure in the rapid 
advances of that young State. 

The year 1850 opened auspiciously. Dr. Jeter as pastor 
of the second Baptist church, St. Louis, required Mr. Peck's 
assistance very frequently, some protracted religious services 
being now held. The German church was flourishing, and 
both the African churches were doing better, and their valued 
friend, the Pioneer, was helping them all. Meantime the 
Western Watchman was resting almost entirely on his en- 
ergy, for editorship and the means of its publication. Edit- 
ing and greatly enlarging a new edition of the Annals of the 
West, was also thrown upon him. As it came from his hand, 
it is a noble octavo volume of six or seven hundred pages, full 
of materials tolerably well digested, for the use of future 
historians. 

Soon after Dr. Jeter assumed the pastorship of the St. 
Louis church, relieving Mr. Peck of that labor, his old friends, 
the Lemens and others of the Bethel church Illinois, urged 



FAMILY REUNION. 345 

him to accept its pastorship, which he did, and labored with 
them in that relation for two or three years. Before the close 
of 1851, Conrad Witter, a German, entered into a contract 
with Mr. Peck to write a description of the scenery of the 
Mississippi river, from its rise to its estuary, to accompany a 
series of splendid engraved plates. He entered promptly into 
its execution, and sent off his first number of eight pages, 
beginning with Itasca lake, within a week, and by the end 
of the month had brought his descriptive sketches down the 
river as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. Witter finally failed, 
and the plan was only partially carried out. 

This was a fair §|pecimen of his promptness. ^ That was 
one of his leading characteristics. Rarely did he hold any 
matter under consideration a very long time, in order to gain 
more evidence ; the best within his reach was grasped with 
vigor, and then he acted on it without much delay. Because 
his decisions w^ere thus prompt, it w^ould sometimes subse- 
quently appear that they were less safe and reliable than 
could be wished. But the celerity of his mental processes 
made up, in a great degree, for this incidental disadvantage. 

The first Sabbath in the year 1852 he gave this summary 
of his labors with the Bethel church for the preceding nine 
months : — Preached fifty-four sermons, besides thirty-two ad- 
dresses and extended exhortations ; made one hundred and 
nine family visits; attended nine monthly and five special 
church meetings, and rode seven hundred and six miles ; he 
had been present and ofiiciated thirty-four Sabbaths ; absent 
by approval of the church, attending associations and the 
like, five Sabbaths ; unable to attend by reason of sickness, 
three Sabbaths. 

June 13th he mentions having all his sons, with two of 
their wives and two grandchildren, at home, and surrounding 
the supper-table together. He says they were five strong, 
hardy men, from twenty-one to thirty-eight years of age. 
Two days later he was in St. Louis, and officiated at the Bap- 
tist church, when their esteemed pastor. Dr. Jeter, very de- 
cidedly, though kindly, tendered his resignation, having been 



346 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

called back to Yirginia. As a competent and impartial wit- 
ness, the testimony of Dr. Jeter to the habits, standing, and 
character of Dr. Peck, may appropriately here be given.* 

* ** I had known Dr. Peck several years before I went to St. Louis 
in 1849, but not intimately,^and my estimate of his worth was con- 
siderably increased by my intimacy with him for nearly three years. 
He was a true, earnest, laborious, faithful servant of the Lord Jesus. 
I was particularly struck with his disinterestedness. He was willing 
to labor anywhere, in any department, and with anybody, if he might 
be useful. He engaged with equal readiness in the labors of a pas- 
torate, an agency, an editorship, or authorship, with little regard 
to the exposure and fatigue involved in the enterprise, or the 
meagerness of its pecuniary reward. He was not a man to wait for 
important and honored posts of usefulness to be opened to him ; 
but he entered promptly the fields of service before him, and culti- 
vated them diligently, with the assurance that he would not fail of 
his reward. Though he was a man of strong will, and loved, as 
earnest and energetic men are apt to do, to have his own way, yet 
I never discovered in him the signs of envy or of mortified ambition. 
He thought, of course, his own plans right, and struggled manfully 
to carry them out ; but accorded to brethren diflTering from him 
sincerity and worthy motives. In all his plans for extending the 
kingdom of Christ — and they were numerous — aud in all his warm 
controversies in supporting them, there was an almost perfect self- 
abnegation. 

The most remarkable trait in the character of Dr. Peck, that ar- 
rested my attention, was volubility. Brother Peck was both a full 
and r'eady man. He was well informed on almost all subjects ; and 
on matters relating to the West, his knowledge was various, gen- 
eral, and minute. He might be called a Western Gazetteer, and 
poured forth an incessant stream of conversation on any subject — 
religious, scientific or political, grave or ludicrous — that might be 
broached in his presence. His resources in conversation were per- 
fectly inexhaustible. When once he was fairly enlisted in conversa- 
tion, the most resolute hearer could do nothing more than ask a 
question, suggest a doubt or difficulty, or give some direction to 
the current of discourse. Being somewhat fond of talking myself, 
when I first became acquainted with him I made frequent attempts 
to participate in the conversation ; but soon I resigned myself, as 
did others, a mute auditor of his ceaseless and interesting remarks. 
Let it not be supposed that he was rude or overbearing in his man- 
ner. He was a courteous man His manners, however, were emi- 



CHARACrER OF DR. PECK BY DR. JETER. 34t 

In the autumn of this year he prepared a special report on 
the finances of Shurtleff College, and, in attending the meet- 
ings of the committee and Board, devoted in all twelve days 
hard work to this object. So, too, at the association, not a 

nently Western. In most social circles lie was the acknowledged 
autocrat. He talked because all wished him to talk, and all choso 
to be silent in his presence. When he associated with those whose 
age, culture, and position gave them a title to a full share in con- 
versation, he still engrossed it, partly from habit, and partly from, 
the gushing fulness of his thoughts which would admit of no re- 
straint. You might as well roll a ball down the mountain side, and 
attempt to stop it in its mid-career, as to arrest, or hold in check 
the impetuous thought and bounding words of the old pioneer. 

Much has been said, and foolishly said, of Western character, 
Most people in the West formed their characters before they emi- 
grated thither ; and they have been slightly or not at all modified 
by their change of residence. But Mr. Peck was a Western man. 
He removed to the West while young ; and his tastes, manners, 
habits, and modes of thinking and speaking were formed there. 
No intelligent and observant man could be in his presence five 
minutes without perceiving unmistakable evidence of this truth. 
The pioneers were a hardy, self-denying, courageous, and inde- 
pendent class of men. For forms, etiquette, and pretensions they 
had no respect. They were practical, not theoretic. Mr. Peck was 
not only a pioneer, but a master-spirit among the pioneers. Perhaps 
no man of the class did more than he to guide the thoughts, mould 
the manners, and form the institutions of the West. He was an 
embodiment of Western character — plain, frank, self-reliant, fear- 
less, indomitable, with all his powers, physical and intellectual, 
subordinated by grace to the ser^fice of Christ. 

I will mention an anecdote as illustrative of the peculiar charac- 
ter of Dr. Peck. When he resided in Philadelphia — so the story 
runs — as Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society, 
after having been absent some months, he reached home by the 
stage in the morning, and, unobserved by any of his family, went 
into his study, and finding a great accumulation of letters and 
papers during his absence, soon became absorbed in the examina- 
tion of them. Late in the afternoon some memljer of his family, 
to his great surprise, found him in his study, peering over his 
papers. I do not vouch for the accuracy of the story — indeed, I do 
not wholly believe it ; but it is significant that such a story should 
be circulated concerning him. Of all the men I have ever known, 



348 MEMOIR OF JOHN M, PECK. 

little extra labor fell on him. In preparing the minutes for 
printing, carrying them through the press, and other connected 
services, eight days labor, besides the Sabbath, was required. 
He subjoins, with earnest positiveness : " This extra labor is 
too pressing on me, and I am resolved hereafter to throw it 
all off:" the practical comment on which was that, a few 
weeks after, he attended the General Association of Illinois, 
and in the absence of some to whom it more properly belonged, 
he prepared" reports, and laboriously advocated important 
measures in repeated speeches, very much the same as though 
he had not so firmly resolved to the contrary. The same was 
the case at the Pastors' Conference, later in the season. He 
also wrote an elaborate article in the Christian Review, on 
the History of the Baptists in the Mississippi Yalley, and 
several papers of importance for the Christian Repository, as 
well as carried on vigorously his numbers of the " Mississippi 
River Illustrated." His old neighbor and friend, Governor 
Reynolds, was importuning him to write a report and review 
of the school laws of Illinois. Revolving this matter, he thus 
jots down in his journal : " If I had time, I could at least pre- 
pare a report on a more perfect system of common school, 
academic, and college education. I will think of it.''^ 

In the meantime a heavy calamity befell him, which must 
be recorded in his own words : 

it was most likely to be true of him. He was not without social 
affections — had, no doubt, a fair measure of them. His wife held 
him in the highest reverence. He was never charged with the 
slightest neglect of his family. But so completely had he subor- 
dinated all his social affections, and all his habits, to duty and use- 
fulness, that if any man could have been innocently oblivious of 
his family under the circumstances indicated in the anecdote, that 
man was John M. Peck. 

In a high sense of the terms, I did not consider Dr. Peck either 
a great or a learned man, or an eminent preacher ; but a man of 
sound sense — of various attainments — of earnest piety — of good 
preaching gifts — of extensive labors — of much usefulness, and a3 
deserving a name among the benefactors of his race, and the last- 
ing gratitude of the inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley, and of 
the Baptist denomination." 



ROCK SPRING SEMINARY ON FIRE. 349 

November ISth, Thursday.^ What I have sometimes feared, but 
tried to guard against, has to-day happened. Bock Spring Semi- 
nary has been burnt ! My son, working in the lower story, had a 
fire in the fireplace. Leaving for a few moments, he found on re- 
turning that the wind had scattered fire among the combustibles 
around his work-bench, and the flames soon reached the ceiling 
above. He gave the alarm, but it was too late to put out the fire. 
Some of the books of most value were saved, partly in a damaged 
state. But an important branch of my labor for more than thirty 
years is wholly lost. My collection of files of papers, periodicals, and 
other pamphlets, amounting to several thousand volumes, mostly 
unbound, but carefully filed, and my mineralogical collection from 
every part of the country where I have traveled, thoroughly ar- 
ranged and labeled, together with much other matter which I had 
intended for some public institution, to be preserved for generations 
to come — these can never be replaced. Well, it seems to me to be 
providential. I have done what I could, and failed ! I am afraid 
my materials are so destroyed that I cannot obtain means to pre- 
pare my projected work on the Moral Progress of the Great Central 
Valley of the Western World. I can only say, the will of the 
Lord be done. 

It must be very difficult for any one not acquainted with 
the character of the man to appreciate the afflictive circum- 
stances of this calamity — the loss of just what, of all material 
things he most prized, and, as many thought, almost idolized, 
the collection and preservation of which had, next to his 
Christian duties, been the great absorbing passion of his life — 
or to conceive aright of the composure with which he accepted 
it, as the indication of his Heavenly Father's will. Though 
it broke up his life-plans and hopes in a moment, yet it is. 
doubtful whether any one half an hour afterward would have 
noted any disturbance of his accustomed equanimity. 

The middle of January, 1853, found him gathering his scat- 
tered and charred books, some fifteen hundred volumes, into the 
largest room in his dwelling-house, which became henceforth 
his library and study. Later in the month he spent some 
days in Springfield, where the legislature was in session, by 

which he was supplied with all their published laws, journals, 
30 



350 MEMOIR OP JOHN M. PECK. 

etc., a unanimous resolution for this purpose having been 
passed. 

No little sympathy for his loss by this fire was expressed 
to him by his correspondents, and also in the notices of the 
papers east and west. Encouraged by numerous assurances 
of loving friends, that they desired to supply in part, at least, 
and in kind, what had been consumed, he set forth, April 21st, 
for one more eastern tour, intending to be absent several 
months. At Covington, Ky., he witnessed with sorrow the 
failure of that theological institution which he and his friend 
Robins had hoped would prove a blessing to the whole North- 
west — one of the early sacrifices at the shrine of slavery. 

At Philadelphia, with what delight he spent a Sabbath 
with his friend. Dr. Kennard, "the model pastor," as he calls 
him, witnessing the baptism of half a score of candidates, and 
aiding in the sacramental services I At the annual meeting 
of the Publication Society, in company with a young friend, 
H. G. Jones, Esq., appointed a committee for this purpose, 
he brought in a plan for a Baptist Historical Society, to form 
a kind of adjunct of the Publication Society, and successfully 
advocated its adoption, dwelling with satisfaction on the pro- 
gress of Baptist principles. With his old friend, Dr. Malcom, 
he visited the ecclesiastical patriarch ofthat vicinity, the ven- 
erable Dr. Jones, at Roxborough, finding him, at the age of 
seventy-six, still pastor of his beloved church in Lower Merion. 
The American Sunday-school Union, which he had so early 
and efficiently served, and the Presbyterian Publication Board, 
tendered him such of their publications as would help to sup- 
ply his loss, as did also several private publishers both here 
and in the other principal cities which he visited. In Troy 
and Albany he attended the Baptist anniversaries of that 
year, noticing much to approve, and some things which he 
could not approve. In Boston, too, he attended the May 
meeting ; and at Harvard University, Cambridge (which the 
preceding year had honored him with a Doctorate) he was 
the guest of President Sparks, and witnessed the inauguration 
of his successor, Dr. Walker. The younger Dr. Shurtlefif, and 



BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY — LAST EASTERN TOUR. 351 

others, vied with each other in tendering him hospitality and 
merited honors. Dr. Anderson, senior Secretary of the 
American Board of Foreign Missions, invited him to their 
rooms, to supply, from their -reports and other publications, 
his losses as far as practicable ; he preached, also, in as many 
of the principal churches as his time and strength would allow. 
Yisiting all the public libraries of most importance in this 
vicinity, he copied whatever was most important for his pur- 
poses, and sent home two boxes of books and pamphlets to- 
wards supplying his losses. Returni^ng to !N'ew York and 
Philadelphia, the next two months were spent in a similar 
manner. At Poughkeepsie, where an esteemed friend had 
proffered him any fifty volumes he might choose from his 
library, he secured many rare and valuable works not else- 
where procurable ; and by the end of July set out on his 
return West via Albany, Buffalo and Chicago, reaching his 
home the 12th of August. He had been absent three and a 
half months, visited for the last time many of his early East- 
ern friends ; and had traveled by railroads, stages, and other 
methods, a total of four thousand nine hundred and fourteen 
miles. 

He immediately recommenced his pastoral duties with the 
Bethel church. Death had taken away some of its loved 
members, but he was joyfully welcomed by the survivors. 
In September .he was surprised by the reception of a unani- 
mous call to the pastorship of the Covington Baptist church, 
opposite Cincinnati. It occasioned him much solicitude. He 
wrote to several friends for advice, and finally concluded to 
visit them the following month to reconnoiter. Ere he did 
so, the second Sabbath in October he terminated his official 
labors with the Bethel church, satisfied that he could not con- 
tinue them through the ensuing winter with safety to his 
health. They parted in love and with mutual respect and 
confidence, his labors having been very useful to the church. 



352 MEMOIE OF JOHN M. PECK. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

LAST THINGS. 

A Last Pastorship — Last Volume Prepared for the Press — Last Loss 
of a Child— Last Hours of His Wife— Last Tour Through His 
Wide Field — Last Illness — Death and Burial. 

Some of Dr. Peck's correspondents, whom he consulted 
in regard to the propriety of his accepting the call to the 
pastorship of the Covington church, earnestly remonstrated 
against it, as likely to involve both himself and the church in 
great embarrassment. But it was always difficult for him, 
with his buoyant, hopeful impulses, calmly to weigh the pro- 
babilities of failure in his own case. He found the church 
somewhat disheartened by repeated failures to secure as their 
pastor some n\an of standing and influence. It consisted 
of some two hundred members, resident in Covington and 
vicinity, some of them most excellent persons ; but the 
ordinary attendance of the whole congregation was scarcely 
as large as this, even in favorable weather. 

Scarcely six weeks had elapsed ere, in an attempt to hold 
extra religious services, with preaching every evening, he 
broke down utterly. He thought it, at the time, an attack 
of his old foe, congestion of the liver ; but after his partial 
recovery, his kind physician. Dr. Wise, informed him that his 
lungs had been more diseased than his liver. Finally the 
physician told him with candor, that he had never known a 
case of a man at his age, and with his enfeebled constitution, 
recovering entirely from so severe an attack of lung disease. 
Hence the attempt to resume his pastoral duties was out of 
the question, as it would involve the certainty of soon breaking 
down. This decision, so unwelcome both to him and the loving 
people whose hearts and hopes more and more clung to him 
as their beloved pastor, was received by both with humble 



BRIEF PASTORATE AT COVINGTON. 353 

Christian submission. In his private diary Dr. Peck says, 
*' I have prayed most earnestly for Providence to show me my 
duty in the present exigency, and am bound to regard the 
affliction sent as the decision. I have been over forty-two 
years in the ministry, and with all I have done in secular 
labor, I have mtlde that the paramount business of life, and 
every thing else subordinate." 

He resigned the 19th of March, 1854, scarcely three and a 

half months after entering on the duties of his pastorship 

determining henceforth to devote himself to such work with 
the pen, in finishing the books on hand, as he might be able, 
and to be in readiness for his departure. The church, a week 
later, by his earnest desire, accepted his resignation, and 
passed resolutions, indicating their enhanced estimate of his 
worth, and their continued confidence and esteem. • The testi- 
mony of one of their number is subjoined in a note, written 
after his death.* 

His leave-taking of his dear church and Sunday-school and 
many personal friends, was very tender and affecting. April 



* Covington, Ky., Juli/ 1th, 1860. 

Brother Peck was one of the most original and remarkable men 
I have ever met with : he appeared to be guided and determined 
by a stronger sense of duty and a more unwavering faith than any- 
individual I have had the pleasure of observing. 

When called to the pastoral charge of the first Baptist church in 
Covington, he was told that the congregation could probably pay 
him one thousand dollars per annum. His immediate reply was, 
that eight hundred dollars was all he intended to receive ; that 
two hundred dollars could be kept to help other ministers who 
might be called in to assist him ; that his health might give way 
and he might fail in any protracted effort. This soon proved to be 
true, and brought on his severe illness. 

When his physician, attendants and friends came to the conclu- 
sion that his days were few and numbered, I asked him to let me 
telegraph his wife (left at her home in Illinois) to come to see him. 
He consented, with the instruction that nothing should be com- 
municated that would alarm her, and declared that he would not 
die then ; and for several days, when at his lowest, and all believ- 



354 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

20th, in company with his invalid friend Dr. Sherwood, he 
left by steamer for St. Louis, recording his testimony : " Were 
I twenty years younger, and able to perform the duties of 
pastor, I know of no church I would prefer to this, no city I 
would more desire to live in than Covington." 

On getting home, he set himself down very diligently to 
arrange materials and compose articles for reviews and other 
periodicals, and wrote with care a life of Yardeman for Dr. 
Sprague's Annals. The last volume he wrote was the Life 
of Father Clark. 

April 25th, 1855, the following entry was made in his jour- 
nal : "It is one year to-day since I got home from Covington. 
Now I am far more feeble than then." Nor till June was 
he able to attend church, even as a hearer. Then he enjoyed 
a visit at Bethel church, where a revival had occurred, and 
sixty or more, many of them his old, dear friends, for whose 
salvation he had long prayed, and wept, and labored, were 
rejoicing in obedience to the Saviour. Near the end of the 
month, at the commencement at Shurtleflf College, he was 
drawn into extra efforts to settle difficulties. A special com- 
mittee was raised for this purpose of which he was chairman, 
and says, " I accepted the post with greatest reluctance, but 
with the determination to risk health, or even life, to save the 
college." Alternating between sickness and partial recovery, 
he passed the next three or four months. 

ing that he could'not live, his faith that he should recover never 
wavered, although he was scarcely able to speak. 

Dr. H. Malcom once said in my presence, that his greatest difficul- 
ties in life were to know his duties — that knowing them he could 
always do them. Dr. Peck seemed to have graduated in that knowl- 
edge. He appeared always to know and equally to do his duty under 
all circumstances. He was like an angel in the wilderness : he could 
rise above every thing, and soar where and when he pleased. 
With wonted esteem, your friend and brother, 

p. S. Bush. 
Dr. Rufus Babcock. 



, ILL-HEALTH. 355 

October 3lst. My birthday has come round once more, and 
finds me an infirm old man sixty-six years old, but as frail and 
feeble as some men are at eighty-six. Still I have abundant reason 
to be thankful to the good providence of God that I have been thus 
far preserved on the journey of life ; and desire to trust in futuro 
for all things to the same merciful and gracious Providence. 

November llth. Ventured to preach a short discourse, sitting 
in his chair to avoid the fatigue of standing. Eeturninghome, con- 
versed too much with a beloved friend, and was injured by it. Until 
Christmas continued in much the same state of health, getting out 
to meetings in the neighborhood, when the weather was fine, and 
occasionally speaking a few words, by request, after the sermon, 
not more than once or twice attempting to preach, sitting in a 
chair. 

At the end of the year he received the tidings of the death of his 
son, Harvey Jenks Peck, who departed this life at his residence in 
Iowa, December 17th, a little over forty-one years old. 

January 17th, 1856, he thus wrote : At the moment when your 
letter came to me I was giving a familiar lecture to our youngf 
pastor, on sermonizing. He expressed a desire to come to my 
house once each w^eek, and get me to instruct him. He came 
to-day with the skeleton of a sermon for the Sabbath, and so I gave 
him a famiUar lecture on sermonizing, loaned him some books, and 
pointed out in them several portions to be carefully examined. So, 
you see, I am at the head of a theological school, with one student, 
whom I most cordially regard as my pastor. I am working out 
practically what Dr. Wayland — as " Roger Williams" in the Ex- 
aminer — commends theoretically. 

My life and health are exceedingly precarious ; and I know not 
how soon I may break down entirely. Many have urged me to 
prepare something like an Autobiography. I have thought of 
" Reminiscences," and keeping person and self behind as much as 
possible, draw sketches of what I have seen and heard ; the "Times" 
in which I have lived, and the events which have occurred, in which 
I have had some small part. This is the leading idea, and I have 
actually commenced such a series of reminiscences, in the Western 
Watchman. 

In the same letter he solicited me to take charge of what 
he should thus write, and of the manuscripts, journals and 
correspondence which he might leave behind him, and pre- 
pare them for the press. A few of the reminiscences, in full, 



356 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

or abridged, have been reproduced in the earlier portions of 
this volume. 

Again, October 11th, he wrote me : My health and strength" are 
continually failing, of which I have conviction in the want of 
ability to write which I possessed two years since. I cannot write 
as much in three days as I then, could in one. I cannot walk' more 
than one hundred yards without extreme fatigue. I cannot stand 
ten minutes. I am literally worn out. 

But another and altogether new ingredient was now to be 
mingled in the cup which his heavenly Father prepared for 
him. Hitherto his help-mate had vigorously sustained him ; 
henceforth he was to finish his pilgrimage alone. It seems 
proper to give the letter announcing this bereavement. 

EocK Spring, III., November 11th, 1856. 

My Dear Brother : — Before this reaches your office, you will 
have seen in the Western Watchman, and perhaps other papers, 
^he weighty and crushing affliction that has befallen me. 

The wife I have loved was an extraordinary wife and mother, and 
I think, in justice to her memory, and as an illustration of my 
poor labors, I ought to devote one reminiscence to her, as a re- 
markable help-mate in all my labors and efforts. I have never 
thought it expedient and proper to, write or speak in praise of my 
late dear wife while living; but now she has finished her course, it 
ought to be known in what sense, and to what extent she was the 
help-mate, pre-eminently, in every department of labor her hus- 
band undertook. I now assure all my friends that had not that 
woman possessed the principles, and been the wise, prudent, self- 
denying HEAD, and government of my family she was, I could not 
have made half the sacrifices, and performed half the services my 
kind friends have attributed to me. She was destitute of all senti- 
mentality, never manifested the nervous emotion of many females, 
while her mind and feelings were under perfect self-control. She 
professed conversion in the great revival in Litchfield, Ct., in 
1807, and joined the Congregational Church in 1808. We were 
married. May 8th, 1809. * -^ * * Two years since about this time 
both of us broke down by a little exposure and fatigue in attending 
a series of meetings; both had the same complaints — congestion 
of the liver primarily — attended with a bronchial affection. 

There was so much affinity in our temperaments and constitu- 
tions, that not only, were we afflicted with similar diseases, but the 



DEATH OF MRS. PECK. 35t 

game medical treatment answered for either. My wife went with 
me to St. Louis and Alton the last week in June to commencement. 
As twice in nine months I had broken down by effort and fatigue, 
in endeavoring to resuscitate the college, she seemed unwilling for 
me to go alone without her watchful eye. This was the last time 
my wife went from home. About the middle of July she was at- 
tacked with an irregular intermittent fever. The usual remedies 
for intermittents were employed, but without permanent effect. 
Two days after she was growing worse and could take neither 
medicine or nourishment, and her prospects of recovery became 
hopeless. Her fever had subsided, but on the 14th it returned, and 
become continuous with remissions till the 20th, when her fever left 
her, never to return. On the 15th October I saw there was no hope 
of her recovery, and held a special conversation and prayed with 
her. She stated that she had always had doubts about her interest 
in Christ, and many misgivings lest she should rest on a false 
foundation ; but since her illness she had gained clearer views of the 
all-perfect righteousness of Christ, and all doubts were gone. She 
evinced no uncommon emotions, no raptures, but perfect calmness 
and resignation, strong faith, and an unclouded hope of future and 
immediate salvation. For three or four days (I think) she was 
kept alive by the skill and palliative medicines of her physican. 

Three of our six children now living w^re here. After giving 
her granddaughter Mary one of the most pertinent and effective 
addresses from a dying person I ever heard, she then addressed 
all present, declared to them her assurance that before another 
day she should be in that state where pain, sorrow, sickness, and 
death can never enter. At a quarter before six p.m. on Friday 
the 24th she was lying quite over on her side, when some of the 
women noticed a struggle and change. I approached the bed where 
she lay, turned her over, found no pulse in her wrists, and only 
a slight pulsation at her heart. I held her hand, but not the least 
consciousness remained. I felt no disposition to resist the impulse 
to kneel by the bedside and offer prayer and thanks for such a tri- 
umphant victory over death. 

On Sabbath I was quite ill, and could not leave my house. At 
ten A.M. the company assembled, and our pastor read and sung 
Hymn 1072 of the Psalmist, and prayed. The procession formed 
and moved to Oakhill church-house, where Elder James Lemen 
preached from Ps. Ixxxviii. 10 : " Shall the dead arise and praise 
thee ?" The coffin was opened, and several hundred friends saw 
her face for the last time. The procession again formed, came 



358 MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. 

past my house, and passed on northeast three-quarters of a mile 
to Rock Spring cemetery, where she will remain till the resurrec- 
tion. Yours fraternally, 

J. M. Peck. 

Yery shortly after the burial of Mrs. Peck, that early, con- 
stant friend of their hearts, Rev. James E. Welch, arrived 
from Missouri. His presence and sympathy were a timely 
consolation to the bereaved one ; and the invitation, cordial 
and earnest, which he tendered to Dr. Peck, to return with 
him to his home that they might pass the winter together, 
was fully appreciated, though it could not be accepted. 

Near the end of June he was once more able to attend the 
commencement at Alton, and took an important part in the 
deliberations of the Board of Trustees of the college. 

About the 20th of July he set forth on one more somewhat 
extensive tour through the northern portion of the wide field, 
which he had so often traversed. With an old and valued 
friend, Colonel Shook, he took passage in an up-river Missis- 
sippi steamer at St. Louis, and reached Smith's Ferry, nearly 
opposite Galena, the 1st of August. Children and grand- 
children here welcomed him most cordially ; and after four or 
five days he went to Madison, Wis. , where he was the guest 
of a dear friend, L. C. Draper, Esq. Thence he went to Chicago, 
where he spent a Sabbath, and found troops of old friends 
gathering round him, and much enjoyed their society. Dr. 
Boon, the Mayor, made him his welcome guest, and in his car- 
riage took 'him to the several localities of greatest importance. 
Returning to Galena he spent a Sabbath there, and reached 
home early in September. 

During the autumn and winter Dr. Peck had frequent alter- 
nations of illness and partial recovery. October 21st, his 
journal says : " Find myself v^ery feeble ; unable to do much ; 
and think I shall be compelled to quit writing for the papers 
and periodicals and confine myself to such manuscripts as are 
Indispensable to my reminiscences." Ten days later he says : 
" This is my birth-day, and I am sixty-eight years old. It is 
hardly possible for me to live to see another anniversary. My 



LAST SICKNESS — TRlUxMPHANT DEATH. 359 

sole dependence is on the mercy and grace of God. Lord, 
into thy hands I commit my spirit !" The following are among 
the last entries in his journal : 

November VUh. At one o'clock my old friend, Welch, came to 
see me, and I talked and talked till quite fatigued. I forget to refrain 
from talking, a sure sign that my mind and judgment are failing with 
my body. 

2^th. To-day my friend Russell arrived from BlufFdale. Of course 
he was joyfully received. We conversed till I was tired out. 

2Wi. Thanksgiving. Governor Reynolds, Deacou Simmons, El- 
ders Storrs, Ross, and Ely, with neighbors Crosby, Colver and wife, 
dined with me. 

Feb. \Uh, 1857. President Read and my old friend Cyrus Edwards 
came here to see me, and we met most cordially. Discussed college 
matters very fully. The conversation was cheerful and exhilarating, 
and we enjoyed ourselves greatly. 

This was about the last of his social enjoyments which he 
had health really to relish. For some days afterward he kept 
about as before ; but on the 25th of February he made the 
last entry in his journal, and that a brief one, chiefly in regard 
to the weather. Next day, and several following ones, he 
seemed to have no appetite, kept his bed most of the time, 
merely rising to conduct morning family-worship, but not re- 
maining for breakfast, and saying very distinctly, but with 
much cheerfulness, to his son Henry, that his time was short. 

Sunday, 28th February, he came into the dining-room in 
the morning, took the Bible as usual, read three verses only, 
and then kneeled with the family and with great diflSculty 
offered a short prayer. It was the lad reading, the last prayer 
with the family. 

But why repeat here the struggling endurances of the last 
few days ? His mind remained most of the time serene and 
unclouded to the last. Lord's-day, March Tth, his pastor. Elder 
Storrs, called after preaching ; had some very solemn con- 
versation with him ; asked particularly how he felt in view 
of dying. He replied : " I feel as I always have felt since 
relying on Christ. If I was not ready for death, this would 



A^/ 



360 ' MEMOIR OF JOHN M. PECK. ^ «r 

be a poor time to prepare. But I have no fear of death at 
all. I assure you I am a stranger to any such feeling as 
fear in reference to dying. Tell this to all these kind friend's'^ 
. — many were then in the room — '' and pray for them and the 
family." 

Sunday, March 14th, he had an interview with his friend, 
Rev. W. F. Boyakin. He said to him with emphasis : " I have 
never done any thing that can save me. All my works could 
never rescue me from destruction. Only Christ is my Saviour, 
my whole dependence I" His pastor and L. Sleeper of St. Louis 
were with him in the evening. The latter, on coming in, was 
recognized and addressed with the calm testimony of the dying 
man : '' I am almost gone." He had before given his parting 
w^ords and blessing to each of his family, and a quarter before 
nine in the evening he expired. In imitation of his example at 
the deathbed of his wife, a few months before, the company all 
kneeled and joined with Mr. Storrs in fervent prayer and 
thanksgiving. For thirty-six hours from that time the rain 
came down profusely and incessantly. But when the hour 
for the funeral arrived, the rain ceased and the sun shone out 
beautifully. Rev. James Lemen preached a funeral sermon 
from the emphatic words of the apostle : " / have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. ''^ 
Yerj touching was the scene when the venerable preacher 
descended from the pulpit and, approaching the cold remains, 
laid his trembling hand on the brow of the deceased, and 
with a choked utterance sung three stanzas of the hymn be- 
ginning : " The languishing head is at rest. Its thinking and 
aching are o'er." 

Twenty-nine days later, by the special desire of many 
friends, his remains were removed to the Bellefontaine ceme- 
tery, St. Louis, where another funeral service was attended, 
Rev. Dr. Crowell delivering a commemorative discourse, em- 
bracing a well-merited eulogy of his character and labors. In 
that central position of the wide field which he had watched 
over, and labored so long and well to cultivate, his remains 
repose. " Si monumentum quaeriscircumspice." 



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